#I have a lot about witches I was planning on starting with the building blocks of modern witches and their biology but

[crowsyart]

I don’t know if I’m gonna but I might toy with the idea of witches using the words wif(adult female) and wur(adult male) to refer to breeding age females and ‘males’, maybe using quaen (or queen) to refer to pregnant witches or cult/coven leaders (I think I might make coven/cult leaders have the title of mother or something similar depending idk yet, I know lady is used as a title for Medusa and Arachne, but I think it’s more of an honorific for an older/more powerful witch/wanting to show respect rather than something specific)

I know I want the word sire and carrier in reference to the actual breeding process but outside of that in a cultural setting the other words might be used in reference to a witch’s age, like a gender pronoun but age based(?) id need a word for a young witch too though for they don’t have a gender yet, man used to mean all people so I could do that because it would be sticking with the old English theme but it would get confusing as we use man nowadays, I’ll probably do more research for that. And young witches aren’t considered people until they can transform as well, so I will probably need two words for that if I pursue this

Maybe young witches aren’t referred to/recognized until a certain age(that being when they can transform fully into their animal) so they lack those referring words entirely? But the transformation ability happens long before witches become sexually mature, so there would be a period in which they’d probably need to have another way to refer to them besides their name

Witches don’t name their children the children are named when they reach transformation age(and start to attend ceremonies) and maaba chooses the first name while they’ll choose the last/take on a family name if they’re from a family(though most families being wiped out makes this rare)

A ‘family’ in witch culture is also something different than the human idea of a family, covens and cults are the most similar they have to it, major ‘families’ (Gorgons, etc) usually would have a matriarch and a group of non witch servants, (usually women, often originally sacrifices especially in European areas), with the servants acting as wet nurses for the heir or heirs. This is not in style anymore, and most witches tend to be more solitary, not owning servants or having ‘families’, the words such as ‘sister’ or ‘mother’ are human loan words, and biologically witches will not mate with blood(or adopted) relatives, as they can recognize the magical signature that marks them as related.

Covens are considered a newer trend, and considered something for ‘weaker’ witches, as they all raise their young together instead of abandoning the egg to hatch by itself (or if the witch had mated with a human woman, then they would give birth to the witch child). Witches are polygamous, but some who are closer to human culture may settle down with one or more ‘mates’ and take them as partners. This is generally seen as odd.

[zivazivc]

what's your headcanon about the bergens keeping the trolls as prisoners?

OHOHOHOHO! fair warning, my headcanons tend to be really dark and this is no exception.

I'm not typing this anew, I'm just pasting two blocks of text I sent to a friend via tumblr messenger on two different occasions, so it might feel a bit disjointed while reading:

block of text one:

okay basically in my hc trollstice is also a once a year thing but it’s not barbaric in the sense that on that day they let the bergens into the cage and they just go ham catching trolls left and right. in my hc king peppy and chef actually have a fucked up agreement where chef shows up a few weeks/days before trollstice on a particular year and tells him how many trolls she needs that year and then the trolls pick that year’s victims by lot (only trolls who are 40 and older participate (with a few exceptions like obvs the king, but also rosiepuff but more on that some other time)) (also the age limit used to be much higher at the very beginning but they had to adjust to their population growing smaller). they implemented this to keep the kids safe and also to kinda force the population to reproduce more, because everyone starts having kids young bc they want to see them grow up before there’s a chance that they can get picked for the next trollstice (it’s also why jd and freesia we’re already thinking of starting a family at 18) ANYWAY during all this the trolls have been secretly digging the escape tunnels for years, and they are getting close but they keep pushing the date back because of cave ins or other setbacks. ANYWAY the bergen king has a baby son who will be old enough for his very first trollstice in a few years, and the chef being a demon spawn proposes that the prince’s very first troll should be a princess. king peppy and everyone is horrified because viva is still young and he tries arguing that she’s the only heir to the throne. So then Chef is like “then make a new princess for the prince, you still have two years time”. SO THEN the king is forced to have poppy (hence why she’s so much younger than viva 🙃) but the trolls are still all horrified of the idea that the bergens would eat a child so they collectively start working extra hard in the tunnels and they manage to finish them just in time for the prince’s first trollstice…….

this would also explain why chef was so confident about where baby poppy was located at the last trollstice at the beginning of the first movie when she walked into the cage and knew which pod to grab - it all had to be planned in advance.

AND there being no “old” trolls would also explain why so much life wisdom and knowledge about the outside world managed to disappear during the time the trolls were imprisoned. no grandmas or grandpas to pass the knowledge on.

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block of text two:

in my hc rosiepuff isn't the brothers’ grandma but is actually their great or maybe even their great great grandma, who was alive when the bergens arrived. she was from a family of like “biologists” who studied plants and fungi and knew how to take anything in their natural surroundings and use it as food or to make medicine. they were like witch doctors or folk healers, something in those lines. rosiepuff was pretty young when the bergens arrived and by the time the bergens and trolls implemented trollstice and the rules about picking who gets eaten, she was the only one left from her family. and the troll king at the time chose to excuse/prohibit her from participating in trollstice in the hopes of her passing on what was left of her family’s knowledge about wild plants because they will need it when they escape and will have to survive in the wild and build their society from scratch. so rosiepuff was basically the wise elder at the troll tree and she also drilled her knowledge into all her children and grandchildren and this is why branch and the other four were able to survive so well on their own. especially branch, who lived alone with her for a few years before she died and just hyperfocused on her teachings and his promise to build a bunker. the reason she died the way she did is that chef was experimenting with a new recipe for the bergen prince’s first trollstice so she quickly popped into the cage the day before trollstice and just snatched the first troll she could get her hands on… she basically died just the day before the trolls escaped. :( which is also why clay didn’t find out about it (in my hc clay didn’t escape the troll tree the way jd, spruce and floyd did)

[practically-an-x-man]

OC ask time once again :3. I honestly have no idea if you've answered something like this before already.

Your characters are given the ability to time travel once as a one way trip to whenever/wherever they'd like. Who uses it immediately without hesitation? Who never uses it? What do they do once they're in their new time?

Oooh man, a one-way trip? That's got the potential to get a little dark... interesting

Thank you for the ask!! This one's really interesting!

Rae: Decides she's going to save it for when things go really wrong, and never actually ends up using it. She doesn't want to change what already happened, even the traumatic stuff, since she doesn't want to change where they ended up

Robin: Goes back and avoids her TBI - keeps herself and Six out of the room with the feral Beast clone, blocks up the door, and continues on. She recovered from it, but it took time and she'd really rather not have to go through it at all.

Madison: I feel like she'd actually weigh the merits of a bunch of different times, just for the hell of it, but would end up balking at the fact that it's a one-way trip and wouldn't end up using it at all. It does become a running boredom buster, where she'll daydream about going to another time and how good or bad it would be to live there. (like my irl boredom buster of debating the merits of whatever building i'm in as a bunker in the zombie apocalypse. i maintain that movie theaters would be the best)

Ophelia: Stops her father from running his experiment with the tritium reactor, which effectively spares both her parents. It means she has to go through all of college and her doctorate program again, but it's worth it to have her parents alive with her again.

Katherine: Hm... realistically, she wouldn't use it at all since she's happy with the life she has, but just for fun I'm imagining her going back to Ahk's reign in Ancient Egypt and meeting him there, stopping his murder, and eventually resulting in the two of them being remembered in history as benevolent rulers. Their tomb is eventually discovered and, in a cyclical and slightly paradoxical way, both become exhibits in the museum.

Kestrel: Saves it for some split-second moment - if they, Warren, or someone else they care about ever ends up being badly injured or killed in a way that can't otherwise be fixed, that's their get-out-of-jail free card.

Quinn: Goes back to stop what happened in Kyiv - stops herself and Billy from falling, herself from being injured, and warns him of everything Lex was planning with the Kalahari. It's not quite as emotionally rich of a story for her, but it saves them a lot of pain and trauma

Jasper: Goes back to just before that fateful frat party and begs Kyle not to go - he's incredibly confused by all the intensity, but trusts them enough to listen. They have a quiet night in instead, studying and playing Minecraft on their survival server, and the bus crash is on the news the next day. Crisis very much averted.

Eris: Saves it, but with the full intent to use it in the future. His plan is to save it until Rick passes away (hopefully of old age), then to go back to just before they met him and do it all again. It still doesn't compare to their immortal lifespan, but it at least would stretch the time she gets with him. (but eh I'm a metahuman Rick Flag truther anyway so Eris probably never has to actually use it)

Nikoletta: Just about the only one who would just jump to some other historical period and start a new life - she'd go somewhere (and somewhen) where she could use her modern knowledge and shadow abilities to be seen as some kind of witch queen or oracle, lives in wealth and power for as long as she can... and probably dies of some illness that's eradicated in the present.

[sol-poppy]

Ramble about my own practice and thoughts incoming:

I woke up thinking about spirituality sterility this morning. Mostly because my altar is right next to my bed so I see it first thing, and also cause I hung out with my bestie last night and it reminded of things.

So what I mean by spiritual sterility is condition settings. Is making the set up and tools and rituals 'spiritually sterile'. Like you would for medical procedures or in the kitchen. You make sure everything is clean, including you, before getting started. This looks in witchcraft like cleansing all your tools, ingredients, space and self before casting.

So heres my thoughts. It's such overkill most of the time. I can think of only (1) ritual I've done, where I planned for months, it was a triple pronged spell, and involved very real life consequences for other people. People who are not blind to spirituality and witchcraft. So I needed to be careful, and thorough. I simply could not risk any energetic influences but my own. The flip side is that I almost never do full cleansing without need. I cleanse myself regularly and my tools when they feel off. But otherwise I work in the open. I have worked hard to cultivate the energy I use, what's already in my space, and who has access to that energy. So I dont think its necessary to make all my work sterile. And I mostly cast whenever it feels right with not a huge amount of prep.

For example, I've slowly been building a spell for the past month. Honestly longer in my head but in physical terms, most of the ingredients and tools are just out, chillin on my altar right now while I wait for practical and metaphysical timing and gather what I need. And I'm unconcerned about it being, 'touched' by anything else.

Obviously this is affected by your own energy (mine is very strong and flows outwards so its easy for me to manipulate personally) and your home (I'm in a safe place with people who love and accept me, including this facet of my life). So that sterility feels like a lot of excessive energy draining barriers, when I can also just pick up the energy that already exists in the space and items, if I dont cleanse it all away, rather than having to work it back up and use SO much more energy for the whole thing, just for the sale of sterility.

Things I think about when we give the advice to beginners to always cleanse themselves, their tools/ingredients, and space, plus cast a circle around all your workings. Those are for sure important skills to have, and there are times where its needed.

To return to the kitchen metaphor, you keep ya raw meats separate until cooked. Or, medically, you can be grimey in general, but should wash a fresh wound. I feel like that concept applies to spirituality and we shouldnt always be reinforcing the idea that everything needs to be sterile all of the time. That is, again, so energy and time consuming. When not every spell is on that level. Some are just like opening the box of crackers and going to town, some are rinse your fruit before you eat it, some are maintain cleanly divided areas for frying your chicken katsu, some are kosher (as an example of a more detailed and specific process for both physical and metaphysical cleanliness) processes for a large and inclusive meal, and most are just wash your hands when you get started. We should just as much be talking about HOW and WHY we distinguish things so witches can apply the most appropriate and resource effective methods for their work. Especially those of us who are neurodivergant and/or disabled, chronically I'll etc.

Anyway, chime in if you have thoughts on the topic. Be warned I'm more likely to ignore or block intentionally inflammatory stuff.

[bard-of-worlds]

Chapter 29

Sorry for how long I was away, I've had to deal with a lot of Drama offline! But I'm back and will be trying to get this story finished by July! Everyone who rereads my Work, I. AM. BACK!

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As Volpina rode her mount over the rooftops, she laughed out loud!   Whenever they empowered her like this, she always felt so alive!   Those fools who rejected this power, every one of them deserved nothing but scorn. How could they even thinking of letting it slip through their fingers! And all master Hawk…..Shaowmoth wanted her to do a task that she would gladly do anyway hurt Ladyslut!

All he had wanted from her when they began her ‘employment’ was to spy on the peons in her class. Tell him if she ever saw anything that might lead to Ladyslut and Stray Noir’s defeat. And for her revenge she would done it anyway!  And her plan to use that little bitch Marinette to trigger a mass attack?  That was some of her best work ever, and it got her an in with Gabriel Agreste of all people as well!

She still didn’t know why or how the plan failed and what Adrien did after she tried to get him on board……. She needed to find him and have a long talk with him. While she was transformed of course. Maybe if she showered him just what her new claws could do to a steak, maybe then he would get the message. Make him think about what she could do to Mari-trash! Then maybe he would play nice, if not then she could give him Mari-trash’s hand. After she severed it, and in a garbage bag of course.

But then those thoughts died down as she remembered what she had learned. There was her mother to consider and what she had done to Lila, she needed to run. That witch…… Merda, she might be one!    I need to find someplace to hide!   Wait, he could help me, if she can’t track me or maybe even he could create another Villain to kidnap her!   She thought with a grin. With how he’s been doing up until now, Shadowmoth could do with competent help beyond that Mayura witch. And if while she was helping him she learned a few things that let her

But as soon as the thoughts entered her mind one of the Midnight Crew cried out as it was pulled away and down.

Volpina looked at it in shock for but a moment before sending a mental command and her mount to get away from here. But as it jumped over a gap between buildings something shot up. She saw an orange blur barely missed spearing the briefcase by inches!

From bellow the rooftops Rena Rouge shot up with her flute extended to its staff form. At the top of her jump Rena Rouge backflipped and landed on the roof opposite Volpina and glared at her.

“So you’re that faux fox I’ve heard about! I know what you have there so just hand it over before it goes too far!” Rena Rouge growled as Volpina looked at her first in shock then in hunger.

Volpina couldn’t believe how lucky she was. Here she was, wondering how to get away from her mother and this happened?

“So the lesser fox following Ladyslut decided to come out and fight a superior specimen? Will tying you to the top of the Eifel Tower naked without your Miraculous cause her to come and try to save you from me? ” Volpina asked with a smug pure to her voice as she glared at Rena Rouge. The captured Midnight Crew was thrown out of the shadows at the other one and both fell to the street below them.

“Just try, you sorry excise for a vixen!” Rena Rouge growled back. Okay, I gotta keep the attention on me. Gotta not strike back and block all the bolts I can, need to wait for the others to strike first. She thought as she growled as she clenched her staff flute.

Volpina just laughed as she gestured at Rena Rouge. With a roar from Dark Kitsune it raised its tails out and started to fire blasts from the orbs.

As Rena Rouge spun her staff, blocking the blasts as she moved backwards. Volpina just laughed as Dark Kitsune stalked forward. As she was forced to move backwards, Rena Rouge just kept blocking the blasts.

Volpina watched and grinned devilishly. All she could think about what she could do once she took the Miraculous of the Fox. How having any power that wasn’t Hawkmoth’s would help her so much. She was waiting for Ladybug to strike. She had to be around, who else had captured the two Midnight Crew Sentimonsters that were her guards. Perhaps she was busy holding them? If so then she had a fox to skin!

As Rena Rouge moved backwards, she kept hope. All she needed to do was keep Volpina's eyes on her. Once the they had a chance, one good strike would end her part of this.

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As Dark Owl slashed out with his sword Lunar Raven kept blocking as she led him around the rooftops. Bellow the Midnight Crew were still mostly fighting themselves.

As Dark Owl took a stance he glared at Lunar Raven. This is insane, how could I have been so fooled by this witch! What was her end game, why did she break cover now of all times!? Dark Owl thought as he looked at Lunar Raven with a scowl.

“Foul temptress!  Was anything that you ever showed to believe in true!?” Dark Owl bellowed as Shadowmoth’s energy mask formed over his face. Lunar Raven only looked back at him for a moment before speaking.

“Battle is no longer profitable to us both. I request an end so this unit can leave while still enhanced, and unit DARK OWL, can deal with Miraculous users. Agreement?” Lunar Raven asked stiffly and Dark Owl only scowled at her.

Dark Owl glared at her as Shadowmoth sent him a message. Keep fighting, our primary target isn’t here yet! And don’t give in, we need to capture her so I can find out how she tricked us! Dark Owl nodded and glared at Lunar Raven as she waited for his reply.

Dark Owl heard the commands from the commissioner and agreed, but he knew that he needed to find another way to win. Just fighting alone wasn’t doing anything to defeat this criminal. He looked around and took notice of a few things here and there. If he timed this right, then maybe they might let him win if the she-devil didn’t have more tricks up her sleeve. If he failed……. Then he guesses he’ll be no worse off than he is now.

“Justice never makes deals with evil!” Dark Owl barked as he charged forward and slashed out. She dodged backwards and looked at Dark Owl as her eyes turned red.

“Reply within possible outcomes. Activating full battle mode,” Lunar Raven said as two metal sickle blades formed on the back of her legs. She shot forward, jumping and spinning around with her right leg out. She fell at him, the blade spinning towards Dark Owl.

Dark Owl back flipped away from her attack, throwing two disks at Lunar Raven as he spun in midair. The discs hit Lunar Raven’s sword, deflected to the ground by her feet.

“A failure again, your tactics lack the proper way to defeat me. Letting me leave, allows you to fight against the Miraculous users. This combat is pointless,” Lunar Raven said robotically, staring at Dark Owl as he held his blade.

Dark Owl felt his rage pulse for a second. This witch had taken the place of his loyal follower, and she dares to insult him? This wrench deserves my blades! Time to stop holding back! I can find out what happened to Lunar when she’s under control! He thought as he looked at the False Lunar Raven with a glare. “Then let’s see just what my plans can do villain!”

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Below, the heroes fought on against the Sentimonsters. As they covered the Police as they moved away, the heroes keeping them from being a problem.

Chat Noir looked around at the buildings. He saw that people were watching from the windows waiting for this to end. He was at least they were staying off the streets. At least that program the Mayor set up works. Even fighting themselves these things are still focusing on us! The only chance we have is for Sis and the others to get here. He thought as he looked at the police as some of them looked at the battle.

Carapace gripped his shield harder and tried to keep his eyes locked on the battle from behind the line. No matter how hard he tried, the duel on the rooftops caught his eye. For a second he almost missed the mass attack, wincing as he saw a few of the Corrupted Crew coming towards them at a run. “Incoming!”

“Remember, try to maim, not slay!” Roi Singe called out as he jumped towards them, spinning his staff.

“Carapace, stay back and coordinate with the others! Arashiko, with me!” Chat Noir called out as he dashed forward to meet the charge. Inside he wished their friends could get done sooner, that they could find Lila and get the item.

Carapace stayed back as Arashiko and Chat Noir shot forward, helping out Roi Singe. The three fought as the police moved to cover. Some of them were carrying their sergeant with them over his objections.

Carapace held up his shield, using it to block a ranged weapon from one of the Sentimonsters. He didn’t know how long they could hold, but they had to last longer.

As they fought on, the Corrupted Crew kept trying to die on the heroes' weapons, and in some cases succeeded.

“This is a losing situation!” Arashiko said with a scowl as she deflected a blow and then kicked the Corrupted Crew away.

Roi Singe jumped backwards and landed on his knees to swing his staff out at a Corrupted Crew’s knees and sent it down. He smiled only to scowl as other Corruped killed the first as it landed. As the dead body became two new Corrupted Crew Roi Singe felt that this was going to be hard.

“Yeah, but if they go after civilians……. We gotta hold and hope that the others can pull off a win!”  Roi Singe said as he blocked the blow from another of the Corrupted Crew.

Carapace had a snarl on his face as he was forced to watch. He knew his shield wouldn’t do any good in this situation, but man did he want to help them. A beeping caused him to look at his shield and activate the com function. “Tell me that’s you queenie, please!”

“Yeah, we’re inbound and ready to fight!” Apisera said with a savage edge.

“Good……..WAIT!  We’re guarding some police, well I am! The others are trying to hold back the Sentimonsters!   The Akuma are dueling on the rooftops and….. just hurry!” Carapace exclaimed and he heard swearing from the other end.

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“You heard that?!” Apisera asked as she led the way. Behind her Salacia and Pegasus nodded. This is bad, very bad!  How can we handle this now?!   We’d need to try and….. that works!  She thought as she looked over her shoulder and grinned. “We’re gonna win, remember that!  Horse-boy, we’re targeting the Akumas!   Swim-girl, handle the Monsters!  Snake Boy, you there?”

“Ready, just give me the words and I’ll start the Chance,” Viperion said and Apisera laughed a little. As she jumped over the gap between buildings she heard the sounds of blades.

“READY!”   Apisera called out.

“Second Chance!” Viperion called out and activated his powers. Apisera nodded and Pegasus used his weapon tool to take a look.

“Above or behind them?” Pegasus asked and Apisera grinned.

“NO! To the building beyond the fighting! Any other place will cause Apisera to die!   Once you’re there, Apisera you have to back up Dark Owl!  Pegasus, recharge once you get her through the portal, then go back help Rena Rouge. Salacia get to Carapace, use your ability on the one that gets by the others!   Apisera, keep your power ready but wait, don’t charge in! And speak like a comic hero to Dark Owl!  I’ll back you up from my side once I’m recharged! And ignore the street no matter what happens! We tried this a hundred times; this is the best way we’ve found! And this is try number one hundred" Viperion said urgently and then they heard him jump away.

Apisera went still and swallowed before looking at the other two. They looked back with horror on their faces.

Aspiera looked at them and took a deep breath. “You heard snakey, so let’s do it. Lives are counting on us, we won’t let them down!”

As the other two nodded, Aspiera…….. no, Chloe, felt a spark of happiness that she was able to help inspire her fellow heroes.

“Portal!” Pegasus called out and a portal just where Viperion had said Aspiera needed to go. “I need to get to Rena Rouge, so move! And good luck, we’ll be back to help you all soon!”

“Go save our fox girl Horse Boy! And thanks!” Aspiera said as she leaped through the portal that closed after her.

Salacia looked at Pegasus and nodded before she dashed away. Pegasus heard the first beep of his Miraculous and turned. Running over Paris, hoping to get as close as possible before he needed to recharge.

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As he fought on, Dark Owl tried to keep calm. So far Lunar Raven’s blades had only sparked against his armor. But she had changed her approach, trying instead to hit his eyes. He didn’t know how long he would be able to keep dodging, and he could figure out the plan she had. He spared a glance and saw his Midnight Crew fighting against the other traitors, his side was losing.

He knew he was fighting a losing battle, but he had to hope that there was a way to win he hadn’t seen yet. As he jumped back something shot out and wrapped around Lunar Raven’s right arm. They looked at it and realized it was Apisera’s top and followed the line to her, standing there with a glare on her face.

“Well, when I talked to Chloe after getting this she told me about her school. Are you the ‘Spineless Teacher’? The owl is her old principal from what the Ladyblog told me,” Apisera asked with a mischief smirk on her face.

“HOOT HOOT!   Justice always wins for evil fights itself!” Dark Owl called out as he lunged forward and  Lunar Raven moved her arm and his blade hit Apisera’s top!  

Apisera was almost pulled forward but she held fast and grinned as she looked at Dark Owl. “Hey, I plan to take down Lunar Raven to find out her origins. Mind if we fight after we deal with her?”

Dark Owl glared before an energy mask formed over his face. Do it!   We don’t need her gem to solve this case!  When we capture the rest we’ll find out who she is, for now, deal with the traitor!  Hawkmoth sent and Dark Owl nodded.

“Very well, for now, but my justice will catch you soon villain!” Dark Owl called out as Apisera recalled her top and grinned.

“You can try hero, you can try!” Apsiera said with a dark-sounding laugh as she jumped behind Lunar Raven. As one she and Dark Owl charged  at Lunar Raven from both sides.

While Apsiera acted like she was all level-headed inside her inner nerd was laughing up a storm. Who knew those old acting lessons would be used like this?   And she was so happy she watched all of that anime now! To deal with the Owl, just copy lines from generic evil queens!

Lunar Raven dodged a blow from behind her and jumped over Dark Owl as he slashed down where she had been.

As Apsiera grits her teeth, she risks a glance at the street and hopes that the others held the line.

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Chat Noir blocked a blow from one of the Corrupted Crew with his staff-baton and pushed it backwards. He scowled as he saw another one of them kill the one he pushed. “We need to do something!”

“What?” Roi Singe called out as he batted away one of the Midnight Crew. But before he could react one of the Corrupted crew ran under his weapon. “NO!”

“HOLD!”  Carapace called out. Moments later Salacia landed and charged forward, right at the charging Sentimonster.

“DISCORD!” Salacia roared before she punched it in its head, sending it flying backwards. The heroes watched as it landed and came apart. The resulting puddle then shot towards the nearest Sentimonster and engulfed it.

“Now what?!” Arashiko demanded and all of the heroes' weapon-tools beeped.

“Now we hold off the giant! It’ll be as big, as in twenty feet tall big! But all we have to do is hold for a few minutes to let the others get the Akuma!” Viperion’s voice said and the others all nodded.

Roi Singe looked at Salacia and felt a spark of affection for a minute before it went away. He shook his head, he already had a girlfriend for crying out loud! Maybe it was from his partner-Kwami? What he couldn’t know was Salacia was having the same thoughts as he was.

Before either of them could think about it, all the Sentimonsters had been eaten by the puddle. In moments the blob started to grow. It changed into a humanoid form, and kept growing until it was over twenty feet high. It condensed into a giant Midnight Crew and roared. The heroes all cried out and ran to meet it.

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As Dark Owl jumped backwards, he saw the giant Midnight Crew Sentimonster. He laughed as he landed. “Justice has a large reach and a larger helper!”

Lunar Raven stayed silent as she charged in, her blades ready to slash at the Akuma and Hero.

As she dodged, Apsiera looked at Lunar Raven and glared. She had never liked her as a teacher, and as an Akuma, she still wasn’t acting right! As she dodged the blows, she looked at the Akuma and wondered just how Hawkmoth had lost control. This whole situation was completely unacceptable! What should have been a nice beat down on this failure of a Teacher instead was she going off script! No other Akuma had ever gotten off Hawkmoth’s control, and this little witch of a teacher had? And what was the deal with her claws?

“Apsiera, dodge to the left now!” Viperion’s voice caused Apsiera to react.

She knew what his powers were. So without a thought, she lunged to the side a moment before Lunar Raven fired one of the claws at where she had been.

Viperion fired bolts from the other side of the street, and one of them hit Lunar Raven’s right hand and tore it off. 

Apsiera could only stare in horror as even Dark Owl was shocked. The stump was fully metallic, wires and sparks danced as Lunar Raven looked at them with no emotion on her face. She stayed silent as she aimed the stump at Dark Owl.

“What are you!? Where’s Raven!?” Dark Owl demanded in horror as he looked at what he thought was his partner.

“MOVE! That’s arms a gun now!” Viperion’s voice caused Apsiera to lung and push Dark Owl down as an energy ball formed at the stump. It fired and hit the Giant Midnight Crew, causing it to stumble forward.

As the Giant Midnight Crew started to turn Apsiera gritted her teeth. I knew something was wrong with Miss Lingerie! But she’s a robot?! Okay, Max’s son shows that AI can have emotions, sure! But she’s so old! Who made her!? She thought as she looked at Lunar Ravem as Night Owl charged past her.

“Dropping back, last recharge! Hold on for a minute and I’ll come help you!” Viperion’s voice said over the coms.

Aspirea only nodded as she watched Night Owl catch a blast on his sword swung it down with a roar.

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Volpina laughed as her Kitsune Sentimonster carried her closer to Rena Rouge. So far Ladyslut was staying far away, and that just showed what a coward she was!   

And once she got the Fox Miraculous, she could use it to bargain with Hawkmoth for his help with her mother. She couldn’t even begin to think of how she was controlling her, and that scared her. She had always been a fighter, but looking back on her life she couldn’t know if her choices were her own or her mother’s. She needed this, she had already played her hand with the woman who spawned her, and she couldn’t fail anymore.

“So where’s Ladyslut?   Hiding because her pet fox is dying and can’t stand to see it?” Volpina asked and Rena Rouge just grinned at her.

“No, Ladybug isn’t here, that’s just a Mirage,” Rena Rouge said and Volpina went still. That was the power of the Fox, Illusions. If she had been fighting an Illusion, then who had attacked her guards!?

“Wait, if Ladybug  isn’t here, who is?!” Volpina asked in shock.

“ME!”  A voice called out. Then something hit Volpina’s side, sending her flying off her Sentimonster.

As she flew through the air, Volpina covered the briefcase with her body. She prepared herself to hit the ground but then she heard something that caused her blood to freeze.

“VOYAGE!”

Looking up she saw a portal form before her leading to a grass-covered ground. As she flew through it she started to scream and curse. She hit the ground on her back and made a line in the dirt.

“Well, so that’s Lie-la?   After what I saw I expecting. I don't know, maybe someone smarter,” A sensual voice that Volpina had never heard before asked. She looked up and saw a tall seductive-looking female teen in a grey bodysuit with a red spider over her breasts. In her right hand was a black gymnastic ribbon, and she smirked at Volpina with black lips. “I’ve felt more danger from sick-looking dogs!”

“Who the hell are you!?” Volpina demanded and the figure laughed.

“The name’s Arachne. I usually stay out of these kinds of things really. But my partner said I should help out so here I am,” Arachne said nonchalantly.

Volpina just stared at the person before her, realizing that she was a Miraculous wielder. Another bimbo that dared to stand against her! “You shouldn’t get involved with things that don’t concern you!”

“Couldn’t not step in really. They just wouldn’t shut up about it, and this is Paris. I keep my stuff here!” Arachne said stiffly.

“WHO!?” Volpina asked and Arachne only laughed.

“If you don’t know who or what I’m talking about, I won’t tell you. We Miraculous users have to keep some things secret after all!” Arachne said with a grin.

Volpina just glared, a growl coming from her throat.

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“WHAT!?” Shadowmoth exclaimed and Enhancetress looked up.

“Sir, Lila went through a portal, what happened?” She asked and Shadowmoth looked up and scowled.

“Another hero, this one a female Spider. And Lunar Raven, she’s a robot!” Shadowmoth spat and looked up at Enhancetress.

“A what?!” Enhancetress asked, totally shocked. All she could do was think about the times that she had

“Yes! She’s a robot! I Akumatized it before, and I saw nothing! I don’t understand, is she the same being, has it always been there!?” Shadowmoth asked as Enhancetress just stood there.

Enhancetress was having as much mental strain as he was. unlike him, she had been in the same room as Adrien’s teacher. The very idea that she had been near a robot for so long was shocking. It was all Enhancetress could do to keep calm and try to figure out what this meant. She almost missed Shadowmoth’s next words.

“We need to recall your Sentimonster, it’s time to move the plan along to the next step!” Shadowmoth said as he looked back towards the window, taking in his pawn's vision.

“Of course,” Enhancetress said as she put her tablet down.

Shadowmoth recalled the feather, and with a thought sent it to follow Enhancetress. As soon as she touched the item they had brought up here for that exact reason. Within seconds, a new Sentimonster was formed and Shadowmoth grinned. At least this part of their plan was going perfectly, and the perks of this plan might help them with Adrien.

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“Give it Up Lila!” Ladybug’s voice caused Volpina to turn around. There they were, Ladyslut and the one in orange.

She just glared at Ladybug as she looked around, trying to figure out how to escape.

“You can’t escape from us, so just give it over!” The orange heroine said with a forceful voice.

Volpina glared at her and snarled, barring her teeth. “And who are you supposed to be?!”

“Miss Hound, remember it!” Miss Hound said with a sneer.

“I will!” Volpina promised as she brought her flute up to her lips. As soon as it touched, she was covered by clouds with lightning going around them.

Within she was in a safe space, and she looked around as copies of her, each with a briefcase appeared. Before she could send commands to them, the energy mask of Shadowmoth appeared over her face.

“Hold Volpina! Leave the briefcase here and create an illusion copy!” Shadowmoth sent and Volpina looked around, trying to understand what he had in mind.

“But I thought I was supposed to watch this!” Volpina said as she put the briefcase down.

“You are, but this is just the first step of the plan to get away! Now Follow my orders!!” Shadowmoth sent and Volpina blinked for a second. She opened her mouth before she closed it and started to grin evilly.

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Outside the smoke, Miss Hound stared at it and frowned. She thought she saw something for a split second, a flash of light or something else. She hadn’t activated her powers, so why? She went still as she thought she heard something, something that sounded familiar. A moment later Volinpa dashed out of the right side, still carrying the briefcase.

“GET HER!” Arachne called out and raised her ribbon. But then five more Volpinas shout out, each going in a different direction.

“MISS HOUND!” Ladybug screamed as she threw her yoyo at one of the Volpinas, only to destroy it as three more shot out of the cloud.

“Got it! Tracker’s Eye!” Miss Hound cried out. As she looked around she saw red lines in the air. All of them were centered on one of the Volpina’s as it ran away into the city.  “THAT ONE!”

“GO!” Ladybug roared as they all shot forward.

Miss Hound was just going to follow when the last of the Volpinas came out of the fog and ran into her. Miss Hound cried out in shock and fell backwards. As she tried to keep calm she looked back up and stopped. The fog had blocked her vision but from the ground, she was able to see two red lines from something within the fog. And unlike these lines they led away, towards a place near where the court was.

She was about to call out when she saw the source of the two lines moving away from her. She looked towards the others and saw they were out of sight. She could call but if whoever was controlling it was watching them chase Lila! She shook her head and charged after it alone.

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Pegasus transformed back to Max and his hands shot out and grabbed Kaalki before she dropped to the ground. “You okay Kaalki?”

“Just fine Max, just a side effect of cutting through one of Duusu’s creations! It’ll be gone in a minute,” Kaalki said as she sat in Max’s hand.

Max looked at Kaalki and saw her start to look better. Still, he felt bad that his plan caused her to feel this in the first place. “I’m giving you an extra salad tonight.”

Kaalki grinned and looked at Max, happy to have such a kind holder. For a moment she thought about the last holder who was kind to her. And she barely kept the pain from what happened to them from activating her geass. She hoped that Fu would destroy the chains on the Kwami, it was the only hope they might have. If she was right, soon the results of people destroying history will appear, and that would be very bad.

“Now, now. You were moving fast all around Paris to get to this place. Some of my former chosen would have used my power instead of your body. Well done my boy!” Kaalki praised and Max laughed a little.

“Well I only have so many sugar cubes,” Max said as he brought out a small bag. 

Kaalki grinned and summersaulted as Max handed her one.

A beeping on his phone caused him to grin, pulling it out he saw it was Alya.  

“That trick of yours worked perfectly in the game! So you’re going to join some of the gang?”Alya asked and Max grinned. 

“Yeah, I thought I’d go help Sabrina with that project, you?” Max asked and Alya laughed.

“Thought I reset and go join up for some hunting, see you………. I’m gonna have to call you back, that field boss has a second stage!” Alya said with a growl.

Max looked at Kaalki who only looked back, a question in her eyes. Max’s mind went over what Alya said before he paled in fear. “Kaalki, full gallop!”

As soon as Max finished transforming into Pegasus, he was moving. He dashed over the roofs of Paris, moving closer to where Alya was, hoping he was wrong.

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A screech came moments before Rena Rouge dodged to the left. A split second later a large black beam of energy hit the wall that had been behind where she had been. As she landed she looked at what had fired at her and scowled. The headless Sentimonster had gotten back up despite not having a head. Its tails had grown longer and its neck had a large eye in the center, and that was where the blast had come from.

As soon as she saw it get back to its feet and attack a building she had transformed and attacked it. So far she had been able to keep its attention and lead it towards the river. She had to hope that Max could come and help her.

She only glared at it as she tried and failed to keep calm. What happened!? I mean one minute I was ready to head out and help the others and then this happens! What the heck! I mean I thought Senti’s were destroyed when they were dealt damage beyond what they could handle…..unless! Rena Rouge thought as she dodged another blast.

“HIIIYAHHH!” Pegasus screamed as he appeared and slashed three of the Sentimonster’s tails off.

Rena grinned only to stare at the tails as they all locked together and a mouth opened on one end. As it reared back and hissed at them, Rena looked at Pegasus as he landed. “Thanks for the help, I just hope we live.”

Pegasus looked at the snake-tail creature and grinned. “The odds are even my friend, so just hope the others can find the Akuma!”

Rena Rogue nodded before she looked around, paling in fear. Around them, civilians were running away from the buildings. She noticed the sign for an Akuma Shelter and cursed herself for not realizing where they were. As a few people behind the Sentimonsters directed the others away, she made a choice. She locked eyes with Pegasus and saw that he had seen the same thing she had.

“Don’t fight to win, fight to keep their focus on us! Once those civilians are clear, we’ll get rid of them through a portal!” Rena said with a snarl.

Pegasus grinned and chuckled. “Think Sentimonsters can float?”

“How about a nice bath in the Arctic Ocean to find out?” Rena asked with a dangerous purr in her voice.

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As Ladybug chased after Volpina, she wondered if she wasn’t being led into a trap. But something within her, Tikki maybe, told her she was making the right choice. I wish you could talk to me like this Tikki, I do. And I can only hope that this is the right choice. She thought as she ran.

Next to her Arachne jumped and spun in the air, a laugh barely kept down. Oh, this is amazing! I should have transformed months ago! Maybe I should have tried to join the battle, or at least tried to help the victims! She thought and felt a spark of laughter from her partner. For months her Kwami had tried to get her to transform more than training, and here they were. As she spun head over feet, she looked for the third heroine but couldn’t see her.

As she landed she moved closer to Ladybug she tried to keep her voice from reaching Volpina. “Hey! Where’s your friend?”

Ladybug looked over her shoulder and paled in shock. Bringing her yoyo to her face, she opened it and spoke into it. “Miss Hound, can you hear me? Where are you? Did Lila trick us?”

“Miss Hound here, yeah,” Miss Hound’s voice caused Ladybug to perk up. “Chasing down the head of the Sentimonster, it’s still alive! It has the Duel Akuma! I’ve retransformed it and am moving to attack it! Keep Volpina off me and I’ll meet you at the Tower!”

Ladybug forced down the sheer terror that she was feeling. This is bad, really bad! This has to be his new trick! I have to tell the others, we need to make plans and we’ll need Sabrina a lot more! I should go and help her, but Volpina? I can’t let her go back and cause chaos with the others, I can’t! I have no choice. She thought as she looked down before looking at Volpina, a hard edge in her eyes. “Miss Hound, you’re on your own. I can’t let Volpina circle around to the others. Keep an eye on the head, once I defeat Volpina grab the chaos and get to the tower!”

“Understood! Good luck!” Miss Hound said with confidence in her voice.

Arachne looked at Ladybug and smirked. “Trusting her?”

“I’ve got no choice. And I do,” Ladybug said.

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Volpina smirked as she ran. So far the boss’s plan was working great. All she had to do was keep ahead for the other Akuma to handle the other heroes then lead Ladyslut into a trap! And once she had won this for him, then he could handle her mother. Once he understood just what threat the old witch represented, then he would act. She could spin a lie blaming it on her mother and everything would be perfect! “Oh, I can’t wait until I can hold that bitch’s neck between my hands!”

She almost clapped her hands but stopped herself. It wouldn’t do to give the game away now. As long as Ladybug thought that she was carrying the other Akumatized item, then the plan would work. And without the item, then the others would overpower the other ‘heroes’. And that was all she needed to do, keep one step ahead of Ladybug. And once she had some time, she’d go and pay that little witch Marinette a visit. The things she could do as an Akuma to a human…. Oh, she’s wanted to experiment and now she had a reason to!

As she jumped over another alley she looked over her shoulder. That Ladyslut and the Spider-witch just won’t give up! But then that is how I can trick them….. where’s the dog?! That mutt must be trying to get me from below! Volpina thought as she landed. She brought her flute to her lips and within moments a fog was all over the streets below. “Let’s see if that bitch can get by me now!”

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Chat Noir dodged to the left as the Giant Midnight Crew slammed one of its arms down. Without a word, he ran around it, hoping to keep its attention. So far he had to admit that this was one of the most unusual Akuma fights. From the way that an Akuma went rogue to corruption the Sentimonsters to this, nothing was normal. What has my life become that fighting brainwashed superheroes is normal? I thought dealing with a parent without emotions was all I would have to deal with for the next few years. He thought as she yelled and looked up at the Sentimonster.

As Arashiko yelled and slashed at it with her sword, she kept her mind on the battle. She hadn’t used her abilities yet but she didn’t see any way that using them would help. And before, fighting not even to wound had been taxing. But now that the foe was so large, her weapon couldn’t even wound it enough to count. She had wondered how it had felt to fight the ice cream Akuma and now she knew.

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Rena Rouge jumped and dodged the blasts from the kitsune body as she tried to strike it. So far she and Pegasus had been unable to kill the Sentimonster. Every time Pegasus tried to use his power, the tail snake spat a glob of acid at him. And she had to keep moving, always one jump ahead of the blasts from the kitsune body.

As she spun and dodged another fireball, she looked at it and snarled. I so hate Lila! I mean Fu said the person who gets the feather may make the creature. So why did she even know about this thing? I mean why would she even look it up in the first place?! It’s almost like….. no! she wouldn’t, she couldn’t! She couldn’t be that evil! Rena thought as she landed and dashed towards the body. “Pegasus, get up above and get ready to form a portal for me to you!”

“Got it!” Pegasus said and grinned as he realized her plan.

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As Volpina spun around and looked back at Ladybug and Arachne, she grinned as she prepared to fight. But when the only thing she saw was Ladybug charging at her, she blanched. Trying to find any clue where Arachne was, she was unprepared for Arachne’s ribbon to wrap around her right leg.

Before Volpina could react she was pulled down into the alley below her. As she hit the ground the fact that Akuma were stronger than normal humans helped her. Before even a second had passed she was back up and striking at the Spider Heroine.

Arachne dodged and then slashed down. Volpina jumped over her and then Ladybug came down and kicked Volpina into the ground.

“You can’t just let me do what I want, can you insect!?” Volpina growled as she rolled to her feet. She looked around, both Ladybug and Arachne had her between them, and that was a problem. Both of them were mid-range fighters and she was in a kill box. All she could do was hope that she could escape. “No, fight them here! Don’t give them space to move around!” Shadowmoth sent.

Volpina looked around and nodded, bringing her flute to her lips. As the ribbon and yoyo flew towards her, she jumped and created an illusion of the alley being larger. As she shot towards Ladybug, all she could feel was anger and greed. If she could get her hands around Ladybug’s neck then she could kill the little insect.

But when she got closer, Ladybug kicked out and sent her flying. “Her necklace, her necklace is the item!”

“Got it, Tether!” Arachne called out and she cracked her ribbon at Volpina. Unlike last time, this time the ribbon shot out multiple black lines of silk shot towards Volpina. Before Volpina could land, the silk had wrapped around the necklace. Arachne pulled her ribbon and the necklace of flew off Volpina's neck, breaking the chain.

“NO!” Volpina cried as she landed. Her hands went for it but they missed. Her eyes followed it and they found Arachne looking at her with contempt.

Arachne only looked at Volpina as she grabbed the necklace in both hands and cracked it in two. As soon as that happened a dark purple butterfly and blue feather flew upwards. When this happened purple fog rolled over Volpina changing her back into Lila. Al  she could do was glare at Ladybug. Ladybug’s yoyo shot out, catching both the butterfly and feather.

Ladybug grinned as she pulled her yoyo back, opening it and releasing a pure white butterfly. Pointing her yoyo upwards, Ladybug grinned. “No more evil-doing for you little butterfly! Miraculous Ladybugs!”

As red ladybugs formed out of her yoyo, they swarmed over Paris. Ladybug watched them go before looking at Lila with a glare. “And now you Lila!”

Lila glared at Ladybug as she leaned against the wall. “You must think you’re the big hero! You wouldn’t know the truth if it bit you! You take care of everything on the surface, never the shadows!”

Ladybug only looked at Lila in concern. What’s she talking about, what does she know? Is it something she learned on her own, or something that Hawkmoth told her? Ladybug thought as she looked at Lila in concern. But her eyes widened at what happened next.

Lila fell backwards, into a golden doorway that appeared in place of the wall she was leaning on. As she fell in Ladybug shot forward and tried to grab her. She missed by a single moment, and the doorway disappeared.

She looked around, trying to find Lila she felt nothing but shame.

“Come on Ladybug, we’ve got to get to the tower! Miss Hound has to be heading there!” Arachne said as she pulled Ladybug away.

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Miss Hound grinned as she saw the Sentimonster Head disappear. The creature had been running, trying to find a way into the sewer. But she had found it before the monster could escape underground. After attacking it, the head fired blasts from its eyes at her. She dodged, but the blast hit some of the trees, setting them on fire. But then the red ladybugs had appeared, and the fires were out. She looked at the case and grinned. “I did it!”

She felt the sheer joy of Victory. But the feeling was nothing compared to the fact that she had done something that she had chosen to do. Chloe was right, I can be a leader! She’s been supporting me for so long, but I did it! She thought as she started to laugh. For a moment all she could see was the victory that she had won, then the reality crashed down onto her head. She had to move, and she had to move now. Without a single wasted moment, she grabbed the briefcases, running towards the Tower.

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As soon as Pegasus formed the portal Rena Rouge had jumped through it. As he closed it and detransformed back into Max. Rena Rouge had created a Mirage of her and Pegasus jumping down to attack the Sentimonsters. But as Max fed Kaalki, red ladybugs swarmed around the Sentimonster, deforming it.

Rena Rouge just blinked and looked at Max before shrugging. “Trixx, let's rest!”

As soon as she detransformed she moved to feed Trixx, an urgency in her actions.

“We need to get to the others! Even if they got her, Lila might have gotten the other item away,” Max said as he looked towards the courthouse.

Moments later they had transformed. As they ran over the rooftops their tools beeped.

“Ladybug, good job!” Rena Rouge said with a grin.

“Negative, they tricked us. Miss Hound caught it and has the item. We’re moving towards the tower, join us there!” Ladybug’s voice came through and the two heroes nodded and changed direction

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Lila blinked as she looked down. All she could see was a blackened floor, so she just stayed there, trying to understand where she was. She couldn’t see anything. For a moment she wondered just where she was and how she got there. But then the lights dawned on her and she smiled. “Master Hawkmoth, sir? Thank you so much for you for saving me! I can’t wait to talk to you sir! There is so much I have to talk to you about! You just can’t believe what I found out sir!”

After a few moments of silence, she tried to stand up. But as she tried to move something hit he was keeping her down. Before she could even turn to look something had hit her and she fell asleep. The last thing she saw were legs in red sandals walking towards her.

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Salacia jumped as the Giant Midnight Crew attacked again. She had expected something from her abilities, but this was more than she feared. If Hawkmoth ever tried something like this again, then she would need to talk to the others. She still had to get the message

Salacia heard a beep and looked at the river between the buildings. There! That’s the way! It’ll take you to the sewer! You can retransform there! Bolla sent to Salacia. For a moment she hesitated until Roi Singe tackled her away.

“What’s wrong with you? Keep your mind on the battle!” Roi Singe said only for another beep to sound. At this he winced and got off her, helping her up. “Your power, your timer! Go girl, go!”

“I’ll be back!” Salacia said as she dove into the water. She swarm towards the greater river, moving twenty feet a second. She saw a large tunnel and dove into it as she heard another beep. As she saw light ahead she swam upwards. She reached for her right glove, pulling out a large plastic bag from her tool’s ‘item space’.

As she landed she took a deep breath and felt the magic reverse and transform her back into Odine.

As Bolla floated she beamed at Odine. “I told you you’d handle this! And that was perfect, that was how to use Discord!”

Odine only looked away as she pulled out a small bag and opened it. Bolla grinned and shot into it, swiftly eating the small snack.

“Eat fast Bolla, we need to get back to it. I have a bad feeling that something is coming. Something that we need to be there for,” Odine said as she looked up at the stone ceiling.

“Good! My wielders are attuned to the harmony of the world! But if you feel something is coming, then we need to move! Say the words girl!” Bolla Said with a grin as she snuck her head out of the bag.

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“There’s got to be something….. CARACE!” Chat Noir cried out as he suddenly got an idea. And it was such an obvious idea that for a moment he wondered how they didn’t even think about it before.

“Yeah, dude?” Carapace called out.

“Think you can make a dome big enough to hold that thing?” Chat Noir asked with a grin.

Carapace looked at the Sentimonster for a moment he felt doubt. Then he felt the feeling of a gentle support and grinned. “Yeah! I’ll handle this you all dogpile the robo teacher!”

Chat Noir only grinned as he looked at the Sentimonster. He hoped that Ladybug would be able to handle Volpina in the window they had. “Roi Singe, you hang back and guard Carapace, have Salica do the same! Arashiko, with me!”

“RIGHT!” The others all called out as Carapace shot forward.

Chat Noir jumped back and once he was behind Carapace the turtle hero called out his power.

“SHELL-TER!” As the green energy dome formed from Carapace’s shield, it grew until it covered the Sentimonster. As the Giant Midnight Crew roared it tried to break free but it failed.

Chat Noir grinned and as Arasihiko followed after him he felt a spike of pride that his idea worked.

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Dark Owl yelled as he jumped at Lunar Raven, his sword back. Lunar Raven moved to the side and Dark Owl missed. As he got up Lunar Raven came around in a circle and charged at him.

But the blow was stopped by the top of Apisera stopped Lunar Raven’s arm blades.

Apisera glared at Lunar Raven, all the anger she was feeling about how Miss. Buistier had been as a teacher boiling over. If it wasn’t the fact that letting the villain win, I’d help her beat up that principle! Still, this is just the kind of therapy I needed after all! She thought as she locked eyes with the rogue Akuma. “So, did you replace this…… gonna say lunch lady? And are you like that AI that became an Akuma?”

Lunar Raven kept quiet and kicked Apisera away with her right leg. As Apisera flew into the air, a bolt from Viperrion flew at Lunar Raven. She blocked the bolt with her right blade, looking towards where Viperion was hiding.

Before she could do anything Dark Owl threw another disc at Lunar Raven who sliced it in two. She looked at the energy dome that covered the Sentimonster. She frowned as she saw Chat Noir and Arashiko ran toward the building.

Before she could do anything Arashiko was suddenly in front of her and slashing out with her blade. As she dodged the blow, Lunar Raven jumped backwards five feet into the air. Chat Noir appeared, swinging his weapon down at her. Lunar Raven kicked off it, rocketing downward and landed in a crouch.

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As Lunar Raven watched she sent a report to her master. Cover identity broken, heroes assisting Akuma. Chances of escape below ten percent. Requesting help.

Command to Lunar Raven, help sent. Hold out until Combat Drones reach area. Directive changed, send signal to drones then attack and claim Miraculous. Their power source will be an invaluable item for research. For a logical world.

Message received and directive acknowledged. For a logical world.

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As Chat Noir landed next to Apisera, he looked at the scene before him and whistled. “Man, this is something else. I never thought we’d fight with the Dark Owl.”

“Not the best choice,” Apisera said softly.

“Only one you could make,” Arashiko said just as softly.

As Dark Owl got back to his feet he stood behind Lunar Raven as the three heroes fanned out. They were all looking at Lunar Raven as she looked around, her head rotating 360 degrees.

“Option offered. Let this unit retreat and these forces allied to this one will not engage. Otherwise, expect battle,” Lunar Raven said as she crossed her blades in an X.

Apissera only looked at her as the other heroes moved in.

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As she climbed into the Helicopter, all that Nadja could feel was anger. The fact that it took her so long to get back to the station was one thing. The other was that it took the fact someone sent in footage of the horde of Sentimonsters to get her boss moving.

“I tell them that another double attack is happening, and they won’t move. But then they see a picture of the Giant Monster and they send us in. I just don’t get them at all,” Nadja said with a snarl on her face. I can’t believe this! I had to wait until someone posted a pic about it! I need to talk about what my results are worth around here. I swear if they weren’t the only game in town that paid well! She thought as she tried to keep calm. It wasn’t fair to get mad at the people around her, they hadn’t done anything to deserve it. But still, she wondered if she had made a mistake all those years ago sometimes.

“It’s the job boss. What else can we do?” Sarah asked softly as she followed Nadja into the helicopter.

Nadja looked at Sarah and tried to keep what she wanted to say down. It wasn’t the girl’s fault. She was just one of the many employees that worked for the station, just above interns. She and her brother were some of the best they ever had, there was even talk about promoting them. Every show wanted them as part of their production teams. There was even talk about offering them to be extras on a few shows to start.

“We have to keep moving forward Miss Nadja, that’s all we can do. if we stop we die. We have to keep hoping for something better ahead. And that our terrible bosses get what’s coming for them,” Sarah said with a grin.

All Nadja could do was chuckle and shake her head. Her problems with the management were long and not something to get into now. All she could do was hope that they were able to get there in time to catch the heroes winning. If she could get a big enough win then she could get the okay to investigate Marinette’s school. If she found something there then she could silence a lot of the bosses. Then she could show the city the truth. There would be accountability and punishment for what the school let happen.

“Welcome aboard ladies! We’re about to take off…. Who?!” The Pilot barked as he looked up.

All Nadja and Sarah could do was look out the window as ten blocky large helicopter drones flew overhead.

“What the hell!?” Nadja cried out in shock as she looked at the drones. Sarah had gotten out of the helicopter and aimed the camera at the drones, zooming in on them as they flew away.

“What were they?” The pilot asked as he got out of the helicopter and moved towards the edge of the landing pad.

“A scoop. Get airborne!” Nadja cried from the helicopter.

As Sarah climbed into the helicopter after the pilot, she looked at the horizon with a strange look. Those things were all pure tech, so they weren’t golems! Brother I hope you don’t get involved, we have to stay under the radar! She thought as she looked down as the helicopter took off.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

As Rena Rouge landed on the Eiffel Tower’s upper ledge and saw Miss Hound holding the Akuamtized case.

Grinning Miss Hound looked right at Rena Rouge and Carapace as they came over to her. “Look who tracked down the item!”

“How? Wait…. The head was alive too?” Pegasus asked in horror.

Miss. Hound only nodded, shuddering as she did so. “And it had these tentacles.”

“Nightmare fuel right there,” Rena Rouge said with a shudder as well as her face paled in horror.

A moment later Ladybug and Arachne landed on the platform and smiled at them.

Without a word, Miss Hound dropped the briefcase. Pegasus stepped forward, his horseshoe axe in his hand.

“Allow me,” Pegasus said. When Ladybug nodded he swung his axe down, splitting the briefcase in two. As the purple slime went over the briefcase, turning into a stack of papers. Moments later a purple butterfly and blue feather flew upwards.

Ladybug grinned as she started to spin her yoyo. Without a single wasted moment, her yoyo caught the butterfly and grabbed her yoyo. As she pulled it back towards her, red butterflies swarmed away from them. They flew away, heading towards the courthouse.

“One Voyage to order!” Pegasus said with a grin.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Carapace looked up as he heard cries. He saw Commissaire Bertolfo with a small squad coming towards him.

“Commis! The other police are down that alley! I’ve only got a few minutes before I time out! Get them out of here!” Carapace called out.

But before Commissaire Bertolfo could reply a wave of red ladybugs flew over them all. within moments the Sentimonster roared one last time as it faded away. Carapace dropped the shield and grinned before he paled. “Wait! The lady Akuma, help the others! She’s a robot!”

“I’ll go help the others!” Roi Singe called out as he leaped for the roof and the other heroes.

“Wait what?!” Commissaire Bertolfo asked in shock as he looked upwards. With a word he looked at the officers he brought with him. “Two of you, follow me! The rest of you go help our comrades!”

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

As Chat Noir looked at Lunar Raven and Dark Owl, purple smoke suddenly surged over them. Without a word, he stuck his staff into the roof and vaulted over Lunar Raven to land in front of Dark Owl. As the smoke faded away, Damocles blinked as he looked around, trying to remember where he was. As Chat Noir landed, he stepped backwards and almost slipped. Arashiko was there in an instant and grabbed him before jumping downward.

As Miss Buistier turned back to normal, only her two blades were still on her arms. She looked around with her eyes hard and spoke again. “Data fully recorded, final offer to allow hostilities to end peacefully……… rescinded.”

A moment later ten black metal flat triangle shaped drones appeared on the side of the building. Each one was three feet wide and had three helicopter blades at each point. Each one carried a black metal box two feet wide and tall

The boxes dropped and landed on the roof, each one unfolding into a robot. They looked like black metal skeletons with large three-fingered clawed hands.

As Chat Noir and Apisera both went back to back, they looked at the robots.

“Offer; surrender now. Your powers will be studied, copied, and used logically. Survival for a time will be promised. Forces arrayed against you number three times your own. Defeat, impossible,” Bustier said as she pointed her blades at the heroes.

“Odds seem to be more even ya know?” Roi Singe called out from the side. As Buistier turned her head, a bolt of energy shot an inch from her face. One of the drones broke off and crashed behind the building.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

As Arashiko hit the ground and dropped Damocles to the ground. As Commissaire Bertolfo Laborous came towards them Arashiko  glared at Damocles.

“Commissaire, this man was the ‘loyal’ Akuma. I don’t know what caused this, but he might. I’m needed up there,” Arashiko said, and before she jumped upwards to the roof, Carapace followed behind her.

Bertolfo looked from the heroes moving to the rooftop, wondering what had happened. Then he looked at Damocles who was trying to get away. “And where do you think you’re going?”

“Back to the court, I have sentencing to get back to. I might think they made a mistake but it was lawful,” Damocles said as he tried to smile at Bertolfo.

“You’re not going anywhere until I know just what happened here! You!” Bertolfo snapped as he looked at one of the two officers following him.

Damocles looked at them and smiled shakily. “Oh, are you sure? We don’t need to! I was just a small part of this, and the other one, my employee? She was the one who got all emotional. I was just trying to try and calm her down!”

Bertolfo looked at him and then his scowl grew more fierce. “Yeah, I don’t think so. You sir will stay right here!”

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

As Carapace and Arashiko joined the others, Chat Noir looked around at the robots and drones. Bustier just stared at them, she seemed to be waiting for something. These things were unlike anything the heroes had faced before, and part of him was worried. So far this had gone completely beyond what he had been expecting. He thought maybe Dark Owl or Volpina. But to have a double attack, then one of them go rogue and be revealed to be a robot? He couldn’t even say that he had expected that this was how the day would go.

Buistier moved backward and looked at the heroes. “Final offer, surrender now or what will happen is on your heads.”

Chat Noir looked at her and tried to keep calm. Something in the cold way she spoke caused him to feel a spark of fear. There was just something in the way that sentence. How it was spoken that made him feel that they were standing on the edge. That everything would change here and now. That this one choice was the turning point.

He looked at the others and saw the same feelings in their eye. In the eyes of all but one who spoke up.

“What will be on our heads?” Roi Singe asked as he twirled his staff.

“This,” Bustier said simply. Moments later five of the remaining drones shot down towards the street.

[starlightkun]

are you more of a plotter or pantser when you write?

ngl i did have to look this up, and i suppose im a bit of both? like, when i say i have a scene planned out, or that i have x words of planning, or that i have an outline, idk what other writers' planning/outlines look like (aside from the outlines they made us use in elememtary school you know). my word docs for a story always reserve the top part for "planning/outlining" then i have a divider, and under that is where the prose of the story actually starts. when i count word counts of drafts, i only count what's actually written in that second part, from beginning then through the scenes chronologically.

i usually don't start writing a fic until i have not only a solid idea, but also a general concept of the plot (though as my recent posts allude, i tend to have difficulties wrapping it up after the climax). sometimes a scene comes to me first and i have to then build the rest of the au and plot around that scene, but i usually don't start writing what i consider to be in that "prose" section until i have some grasp on the overall fic.

and my "planning/outlining" section usually looks like this:

- x au, a!neo, b!reader, (ft. any important side character)

- if it's majorly involved au like frankenstein complex or strawberry sunday, i'll make a short character list. like in strawbsunday it looked like:

Human!Johnny [roommates w MK]

Fairy!Jungwoo [roommates w TI, DY] ; Vampire!Jaehyun [roommates w TY]

Witch!Doyoung [roommates w TI, JW]

and so on. that one also went in descending height order (members who are officially the same height were next to each other in the list, like jaewoo), bc for a time at the beginning, i was playing with having their height be affected by their species, but that ended up not mattering in the end. i also had so many characters who were roommates bc it was a college au that i needed to be able to remember who lived with who after a while, so that went in the list too.

- then a brief paragraph describing the major story beats

- The Scene that made me get inspired to write it, if there is one, usually all dialogue written in a big block of text like this: "Abcd ef ghijk lmn opqr st uv." YN "Wxy zabcde fg hij klm nopqr st uvw." NEO "Xyz?" YN "Xyz. Abcd, efg hijk lmnopqr. Stuv!" NEO

- more scenes, only dialogue like above

- more scenes, only dialogue like above

so that's how my "planning/outlining" can be 8k+, it's my "sketches" of upcoming scenes that i haven't gotten to yet in the "prose" portion. and while im writing, i'll usually get ideas for upcoming scenes, and add their "sketches" to my planning area at the top. sometimes i don't always know exactly how all the little pieces will fit in, and kind of have to assemble them into a little frankendraft by the end. and sometimes i find that little snippets of dialogue that i thought would be perfect ended up not fitting anywhere, or had to be minorly/majorly modified.

i often go into unexpected places, and find out a lot about my characters while i write! i have my loose outline and im flexible with it if i find that the story is headed in a different direction as i go (like, for example, in changer, i was originally imagining sungchan asking reader out at the end of the valentine's day event at the boba shop and have it be more of a second chances things, but as i wrote it i realized that my werewolf sungchan was too much of a loserboy to do that and it wouldve felt a bit forced imo)

[thepermanentrainpress]

THE PERMANENT RAIN PRESS INTERVIEW WITH KAILEEN CHANG

Kaileen Chang wants to be a role model – to be creative in her work, compassionate to herself and others, and representative of her mixed (Latinx and Taiwanese) heritage. The young artist from Los Angeles, California is certainly on her way, currently starring as the half-human, half-vampire lead Carmie Henley in the aptly titled, I Woke Up a Vampire. The series, airing now on Family Channel, is expected to be released on Netflix later this year. 

What can you share about your background in the arts, and what inspired you to pursue film as a career?

I started off performing when I was young, specifically in dance and ice skating. Then I explored theater and later started acting. What inspired me the most was the ability to be creative and show the media and young kids a role model who is relatable and responsible.

Who and/or what were some early inspirations for you - such as actors you admired, favourite TV shows or films, and instructors or teachers in your own classes? What impact did they have on you?

I get inspired by a variety of women actors such as Florence Pugh, Angelina Jolie, Anne Hathaway, and many others. Their ability to be so creative and embody characters really is incredible. I also love 80's/90's films or inspired films because they are the right combination of serious drama and comedy.

How has your family supported you in your career?

My family has been more than just supportive, I would say they are my number one fans and the building blocks to this all. Without their encouragement and dedication, I would have not been where I am today.

Congratulations on I Woke Up a Vampire! As your first series lead, what can you tell us about your audition and casting process?

I did an audition like normal, but I never got called back until like almost a month later. Then I got told I was on hold, but I never did a callback. I waited for a solid two weeks before getting the call that I booked it, which I was surprised because I hadn't had any callbacks or contact. Next thing I know I was on a plane to Toronto.

Carmie Henley is a dynamic character with a unique life! What drew you to her, and how are you similar and different from Carmie (aside from the supernatural and superhuman powers)?

I think that the little aspects of Carmie are so similar to many teenage girls, and there are some little parts to her that are a part of me. Carmie is such a relatable character and she is inspiring for young girls. I am really drawn to the fact that she wasn't planned out or written specifically as a character but her story was, and they let Carmie grow and be built by her experiences and some of mine too.

Who are your favourite superheroes from the comics or screen, and why?

I really like Scarlet Witch, because she is just so misunderstood and I loved the WandaVision series lol.

Creator and showrunner Thomas (Tommy) Lynch has a great resume, including producer credits on recent teen, coming-of-age series Make It Pop and The Other Kingdom. What was it like working with Tommy and did you have conversations about your character and the story?

Working With Tommy was amazing, he and Ryan Lynch (his son) are just amazing collaborators. It's tough starting off on a big show and being really fresh and new to the business but they helped me along the way and were so incredibly supportive and protective. They also valued my opinions and creative decisions. We had a lot of fun shaping Carmie and making her a character with a lot of depth. Tommy is actually amazing and so great to work with. He really made it a lot of fun and we became close with the whole cast too, just one big family.

How did you prepare for this role? Is there anything special you did to get into character before your scenes?

I wanted Carmie to be as authentic as possible. I didn't want her personality to seem cheesy or unrealistic. I made sure that I had a lot of fun when doing scenes and just went with the flow. Music helped a lot and not thinking about the scene too much made it natural.

Carmie and Kev share a close and supportive friendship. Did you and Niko Ceci have a lot of fun together, and how was he as a scene partner?

Carmie and Kev are like Kaileen and Niko. It's really funny because me and Niko joke that we don't even have to act most of the time because we are just so close. I love doing scenes with him because they just come so naturally and flow well. We definitely have a very close relationship off-screen, we are best friends. We love Tommy because he basically united two halves into one, I and Niko are like the same person and we love that.

The show has a talented young cast, also including Aaliyah Cinello (Madison), Zebastin Borjeau (Dylan) and Ana Araujo (Leanna). Did it feel like summer camp, and was it nice to share this experience with cast members similar in age to yourself?  

I had so much fun being able to share the experience with young actors like me. It definitely felt like work but in the best way possible. We made sure to keep it professional and not goof around too much but had our fair share of giggles and fun off-screen. I loved working with each and every one of them and also developing close relationships as friends off set as well.

Actor and comedian Kris Siddiqi stars as The Collector. How was Kris to work with, and was it hard to stay in character without laughing? What did he teach you about performing?

Kris was THE FUNNIEST person ever. We all loved working with him because he was just so warm and welcoming every time we did a scene. It was definitely very funny when he started to improv at the end of a scene but we managed to keep it together. He was an amazing mentor and I loved being able to work with him.

Take us behind the scenes! What is your favourite memory from Season 1?

I had a blast filming this show. It's hard to pick just one memory. Also most of the things me and the cast find funny might not make sense to you guys. But I do remember filming episode five - we had to jump off the rooftop set onto a mat, me and Niko would fall onto the mat into a splat position on purpose so that whoever had to jump next would just start laughing and we would just fall onto the mat because we were laughing so much we lost our balance.

Why would you encourage viewers to tune in to I Woke Up a Vampire? What can they expect to see and take away from the show?

I would love for young kids to watch this show because as the episodes go on we explore real topics, but it's still fun to watch because of the supernatural side to it. Carmie faces the hard reality of school and feels like she needs to fit in which is very relatable to many kids and it is comforting to know that other people are going through the same thing.

We know it’s early on, as the show hasn’t even premiered on Netflix yet, but are you aware of plans for future seasons? Would you like to explore Carmie’s story further?

I am actually not sure what the plans are for further seasons, Tommy loves to keep his ideas very very secret. I remember filming the early episodes and as we got closer to the later ones we would bombard him with questions and he would never tell us anything until the script came out. But I would love to explore Carmie's adventure and exploration towards more serious topics and her journey with self-love and acceptance.

You are an advocate for those with down syndrome, which is personal and meaningful to you and your family. Tell us about the importance of this work for you, and how you stay involved and informed.

My little sister has Down Syndrome, and I think it is very important for people to stay aware and understand that she may be different but she is just as capable. I am an advocate because she deserves equality and to be treated just how everyone else is. I love to bring awareness to the kids with Down Syndrome and their amazing talents.

You have multiple cultures, with both Latinx and Taiwanese heritage. Have you always been in touch with your identity and where you came from? Why are you proud to be Latinx and Taiwanese?

I am very proud of my mix, I think it makes me very unique and who I am. I have always embraced the different features I hold and love to spread my culture to those around me.

Has your ethnicity impacted your career so far? Are you hopeful for more diversity in film (ethnic and minority creatives) in the near future, and being a part of that positive change?

I think one thing that really had me drawn to acting was the little diversity and awareness. I wanted to be able to be a role model for young girls because I remember watching TV when I was younger and the main character was always a pretty white girl who was a cheerleader, always looked perfect, and was a popular girl.

With Carmie, I wanted to show the viewers that they can have some comfort in this show knowing that some people can relate to Carmie in the sense that she isn't perfect, popular, and she's mixed. I was also really attracted to the fact that I could be a responsible and inspiring person to young people so that when they grow up, they can see someone who they can follow and look up to.

What inspired you to learn and become fluent in American Sign Language (ASL)?

I love inclusivity, and I think that it was important for me to learn ASL so that I could practice my beliefs of inclusivity. I grew up in a school that prioritized being inclusive and I want to carry that on with me as I go in the real world so learning ASL was a big accomplishment and milestone for me becoming a step further into the person I want to be.

Who are you listening to on your playlist? 

I love music, I personally get really shy when it comes to asking about my music taste. It's hard to narrow down my favorites when I have such a range of music tastes.

Our signature question: If you could be any ice cream flavour, which would you be and why?

I would be cotton candy because it's like two different colors and I have two very different sides to me that are completely opposite.

-

Thank you to Kaileen Chang for answering our questions! 

Follow her on Instagram to stay updated with what’s next for the rising star. New episodes of I Woke Up a Vampire air Fridays at 6:30 pm ET/PT on Family Channel. 

Photo credit to: Tommy Flanagan (portraits)

[arcadian-vampire]

My Terraria world so far! :0

Looong post ahead, mostly tucked under a read more link, bc I have a Lot to say!!

I'm playing on Journey mode, so I get to cheat a bit by researching + duplicating stuff, hehe. It makes it wayyy easier to build without worrying about stopping to collect more blocks, and I figured since this is my second first time really playing, I'll take it easy and get to know the game better before I try the harder difficulties!

My character's name is The Wanderer! They're mainly melee bc I Love the cool swords in this, but I make sure to get good ranger gear + weapons for tricky bosses. They had white hair until I got the party hair dye from the stylist and decided the confetti was the best thing ever

And my world is a large one named Kepler-62e, after a big earth-like exoplanet!! I decided on a large world because I like having lots to explore, and plenty of space on the surface to build things!

Here's my home!!! I wanted kind of a wizard tower vibe, and I plan to decorate it more and make it fancier over time, but I'm happy with it for now!

Ryan the Guide and Greg the Rabbit also live up here :0

Beneath that is my crafting room, which has kind of spilled out into the central part of tower because I ran out of space lol. I'll reorganize it eventually so everything fits

That central part of the tower- where the torches are- will eventually have stained glass windows to match the smaller tower! I just don't have enough at the moment

Between the two towers is the main portion of the castle! It has a kitchen and dining room on the main floor, a party room and the pylon on the second floor, and two bedrooms + a bathroom on the third floor! Above that I've got a bunch of sunflowers for now

The merchant lives in the right third floor room, with the elder slime. The steampunker is in the left room of the third floor, just until I decide where he should live. And the party girl lives with the cool slime on the second floor.

The smaller tower is what I built first, so its stained glass windows are complete! I'm thinking about redecorating the wizard's room, but I haven't decided yet. I might move him and the party girl into a tower in the Hallow

This tower leads down into my main Hellevator (tm). It also features some spare rooms for npcs or storage, and a cute little jail where the tax collector and golfer live <3

Behind my castle, I made a lil pond + fountain, just to be fancy. I want to decorate a whole lot more, but haven't got around to it just yet!

At the front of the castle (the right side), I've started to put together a garden for potion ingredients. Might change it later, but it's fine for now! I also want another fountain here, some picnic tables, and another small tower beyond all that.

Here's the world's spawn point, and the first npc house I ever built, lol. I want to put the small tower here I think

Just past the first npc house is a little fishing pond I made! I spend a lot of time fishing for crates here

And on the other side of the fishing hole is the mausoleum and graveyard, where the clothier lives! I'd had Nana the cat living with him, but she kept getting attacked by zombies so I moved her

Back to the left of the castle, the desert is a short walk away, and has three npcs living around the oasis! On the right is the dye trader, and on the left live the nurse and arms dealer. I want to change these houses a bit later

Further to the left is the jungle! I haven't finished these houses, but this is a community of four npcs! The zoologist and witch doctor in one house, and the painter and dryad in the other

Much further to the left, we have T H E M U S H R O O M, where the truffle lives with John the dog! It's pretty simple, but I still love it a lot tbh

And alllll the way to the left side of the map is the beach, where the angler and stylist live! These houses were put together pretty quickly, so I plan to make them cooler at some point

Venturing back to the right of the castle, past the graveyard and a patch of Corruption, is the Hallow! It spawned in the one place I didn't want it to- most of it is in the snow biome </3

In the small section that isn't in the snow, I dug into the hillside to make another fishing hole (where I'd be safe from the unicorns)

In the snow biome, the goblin tinkerer and mechanic have a cozy cabin! I want to make this cuter at some point too

Above the Hallow and snow biome, I have a sky bridge I made to fight the mech bosses! I got sick of The Destroyer murdering me in my regular arenas, so I spent some time researching the best way to deal with it and the other mechs. I made it here so I could warp to either the snow pylon or the cabin pylon and climb up real quick if a boss spawned

Just past the ladder up to the sky bridge is the underground inn! The tavernkeep and demolitionist live here, and just outside I have another hellevator

There's another big patch of Corruption past there, and I purified some of its surface and planted Hallow seeds to get a patch of Hallow I like better than the one that spawned naturally. I wanna build a wizard tower here I think

After that is the dungeon! I built an arena here to fight Skeletron, and I want to make it cooler before I eventually fight the Lunatic Cultist

My dungeon goes Pretty Deep, like 3/4 of the way to the Underworld

After the dungeon is more Corruption </3 I haven't built anything over here because this beach is gonna be swallowed up by the Corruption soon

And that's all!

I really wanna get better at building, I wanna make awesome stuff. I'm happy w the castle, especially compared to the house I lived in before I built it:

(Featuring an incredibly angry pink rabbit)

[l-e-morgan-author]

Writing Newsletter #3: May 2024

Still not figured out website hosting, so this is still on here. I also haven't edited the two stories I plan to provide as a signup gift, so that's not ready yet. Anyway, if you want to be on the taglist for this monthly newsletter, say the word and I'll add you.

Writing update

As of yesterday, I finished drafting Patience, Changing. I wrote Hannah's death and it was hard, but I think what I have, while not particularly good, is a building block for the next draft. It's been a lot of fun, and now I'm putting away the project as a whole, ideally for at least a month. I have a lot of fragments as well as the main draft and novellas; they'll need some tidying, and various bits will probably be worked into longer pieces, but I want to give myself a break from the whole project. Word count wise, the novel itself clocks in at 84k (was planned to be 81k), and the total word count is 144k, having added around 29k since last month.

I had originally intended to go back to Metamorphosis of a Girl (Hadassah's story) once I was done with this, but there's a whump challenge I want to write for and the only one that will satisfy that is Hands Made for Gentleness. I'm considering making that my main project, at least for now, and also starting to work on To Kindle a Flame in the background again. I had conversations the other day that made me reread a scene; I unexpectedly really liked what I had, and the writing wasn't as clunky as I'd expected. I'm considering scrapping the 2020 draft completely and working solely from the 2021 draft and the notes I've made since.

I have worked a little (to the tune of 3k) on Hands Made for Gentleness this month. Looking back at my statistics, I actually wrote the most I've written for it so far in February 2023, when I wrote just shy of 10k. I always think I've written more for it than I have, partly because of how important every single word is to it. I need to write more downtime between them, I think; it's always so intense, and while that's kind of necessary to the kind of book it is, it's in its present state not something I personally would sit down and read in one sitting. I think I need to dial the intensity back just a little, so that the moments that are intense can really hit the spot. That's probably a revising-me point, though. I'm missing so much from this draft that will need to be added in later drafts; indeed I'm starting to be slightly nervous about the idea of tackling it, because of the sheer number of notes I've left for myself already, and I'm only 33k into the draft (plus a few thousand of assorted other stuff, including the prequel I want to revise at some point.... it takes it up to a combined total of 41k).

Reading update

I've been reading a handful of memoirs this month. First I read A Grief Observed (reread, specifically for handling Hannah's death in Patience, Changing), then Bones: Anorexia, OCD and Me (first time read, and I won't be rereading it: I don't recommend it), Girl, Interrupted (not as good as its popularity would suggest to me), and As I Disappear... (a very short poetry thing). There were also a few that didn't get onto my goodreads because I gave up on reading them before I actually bought them (all ED focused). I'm currently reading the same books as I was reading last month (Cry of the Raven, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, and Walking on Water) as well as starting a reread of Pat of Silver Bush. Thinking of rereading Pride and Prejudice presently.

Ramble

Oh uh. I note that last time I wrote that my mental health has been comparatively amazing lately, which is... still true? Which is Impressive? I still need to work out motivation and that kind of thing which I'm not very good at still, but oh well. I guess I'm still as forgetful as I was. I realised recently I haven't been posting on my website all year. I need to do that more.

Drabble

As We Sail Into Hell

“I’ll go anywhere you go, so that makes us equal.”

“‘You are a gentleman, I am a gentleman’s daughter, so far we are equal,’” she misquoted cheerfully. “The fact that we’ll follow each other into—well, anywhere—doesn’t negate the fact that you have to choose where we’re walking right now.”

Nathan sighed. “I wanted you to make a decision,” he complained.

“I know. I shan’t. I know your tricks.”

“At this rate we’ll never get married because neither of us will ask the other.”

She grinned. “That’s your job. If you really want it.” But her expression was merry.

Photo

A collage from yesterday's walk. Ignore that I shared it on my main yesterday. The weird beastie in the bottom left is a wombat.

Fun fact

I title all my drabbles by either writing them off a song directly or by thinking of a lyric from a song. This one's from Durham Town, by Roger Whittaker.

[justgoji]

I had this crazy dream, it was like a video game complete with cutscenes and lore and stuff.

So there are these kids in fabric costumes, some show their faces while others hide theirs under mascot heads, and they enter this weird digital world full of all sorts of dangers, and sometimes those dangers come from each other. The world’s terrain is light and pastel in color, but the sky around it is dark and stormy with deep reds and blue-greens, with the sun only breaching through the clouds every once in a while. The trees are pines with very few leaves, and are dark purple in color, almost black. The trees are actually witches btw we’ll get to them later.

The gameplay isn’t very noteworthy, as it’s just a first person shooter with the occasional choice sequence, which takes place in a small room with green pipes, fabric square walls, and no roof. There are these blocks made of bent trees you can walk up to and they will teleport you to presumably some sort of lobby, but I forgot if they actually do that.

The story is a bit all over the place, but from what I’ve seen this is what I can make out.

You are one of these kids, your costume being purple and your mascot head resembling some kind of goofy devil. You’re new here, and you start in some sort of office building made out of blue glass, with no actual windows (Weird design choice I know). You talk to some other kids, and you start the first couple rounds with some friends you’ve made. There are three that join you, but the only one I remember was someone with light brown skin, vanilla hair, and a kangaroo costume that was white with blue stripes. After playing a few times something weird happens. This the sun appears, and this large creature with pitch black glitching skin and a wide humanoid stance descends from it. He takes two of the kids you were playing with (including the kangaroo girl), and you run outside the game room, towards the lobby teleporting block. You look back, and the large creature attacks a tree, which reveal its true witch form, and apparently it raised the large creature once, and is now upset that it’s destroying their world without reason. The other trees transform into witches as well and are getting ready to fight the creature.

Meanwhile, a group of villain kids (presumably taken by the creature) and the two kids though saw get taken by the creature are teleported into some void that changes colors and stuff. There’s also a lot of large everyday objects such as forks, cups, and slingshots for some reason laying around. They talk about evil plans and have a few musicals.

That’s the story I could make out, and here are some of the characters that I found distinct enough to talk about:

Human arm: It’s the arm of a human, large in size and deadly in power. The most noteworthy appearance I could recall from this thing was in a sequence where you’re on a wooden ship going through a sand canal, and you have to keep the ship from being grabbed by the hand and pulled down into a wormhole of sand. The ship is also half the size of the arm btw.

That yellow kid: This is one of the members of the villain kids, and wears a yellow plastic skin suit, with his mascot head resembling an ant. In the musicals, he’s often the one getting harmed by the giant objects, and getting made fun of. Idk why, he seems like the nicest one in the group. Maybe that’s the reason actually.

Office kid: This kid wears a business suit, complete with glasses and a document in his hands. He sits on the edge of a windowless space in the building, and is one of the first kids you meet. He is passive aggressive in nature.

[breelandwalker]

Hi! I’m very new to witchcraft (as in i’ve only been seriously looking into it in the last week or so new) and my family are strong christians. they are very against magick and related stuff bc they believe that its part of the devils realm and that people can get possessed and other things if they get involved in witchcraft. I’m not religious myself but growing up around that mindset has made me a bit paranoid about starting witchcraft. I’m not planning on working too much with spirits or the dead at all so I’m not at risk of being ’possessed’ or anything bad am i?

thank you! :D

Good news! Practicing witchcraft does not guarantee, invite, or increase your risk of possession of any kind. Also, if you don't wish to do spirit work, there's no rule that says you have to. And witchcraft, contrary to what some might tell you, is not in opposition to Christian belief, as evidenced by the numerous folk magic traditions that blend Christian prayer and Bible verses with spells and charms.

Furthermore, spells are not horrendously dangerous and explosive things likely to singe off your eyebrows and ruin your life if not performed EXACTLY right, with all the precise trappings of timing and components and procedure pertaining thereto. In reality, spells don't often work in an immediately noticeable fashion, and spells that fail tend to fizzle into nothing rather than blowing up in your face. Yes, even the baneful ones.

One lesson that I like to teach to newer witches is that the spirit world, and indeed the universe at large, is not waiting to pounce on our mistakes and enact horrific consequences. There is no army of malicious imps waiting for you to say or do just the wrong thing so that they can rush in to steal the baby and put a glam rock Goblin King in your window to do some spooky-ooky contact juggling.

Learning magical protection methods is a first step that many witches recommend, but it's not because witchcraft is inherently dangerous. It's more because the techniques used in protection magic (i.e. visualization, grounding & centering, learning to harness your own energy, attaching spells to objects, etc) make excellent building blocks for a basic understanding of magical mechanics. Not to mention that the first thing you should learn with any new hobby or activity is how to do it safely.

This idea of looming danger is a product of leftover guilt and "sin" complexes from the faith systems that many of us were raised with, as well as plenty of scare tactics employed by conservative media over the years that have filtered into popular culture. This last should come as little surprise, considering the number of tv shows and movies where anything related to witchcraft immediately defaults to the demonic and results in problems that only Christian belief and ritual can cure.

The world of witchcraft is peopled with...well, people. Most of us spend our time dealing with everyday life, trying to find time for research and hobbies (and sleep), and swearing luridly when we discover we've missed the full moon AGAIN and just when we had a lovely jar of water to put out for charging. Witches are a colorful and widely varied lot and there are as many ways to be a witch as there are witches in the world.

And to the best of my knowledge, the only practice that is likely to get you haunted or possessed is quite literally calling spirits and demons to haunt or possess you. And even then, it's not a guarantee.

So forge on bravely and fear not! And may I suggest checking out Episodes 4 and 12 of my podcast Hex Positive. These deal with advice for beginner witches and tips for practicing in stealth mode.

Hope this helps!

[thebadgerclan]

Lost Niffler

Pairing: Newt Scamander x reader

Requested by @emmaloo21 

Summary: A lost niffler leads to a new relationship...

A/N: Requests might open again sooner than I thought lol (after this one, I have 7 more).  I might do the thing I’ve done the past few times and add in some S&B prompts in between requests (depending on how many requests I get for those characters, of course) so there’s an even mix of HP and S&B

“Oh bloody hell.”  The crate where Newt’s niffler, Payton, should be sleeping was empty, the latch hanging loose, bent so it was broken.  Payton was a notorious escape artist, managing to worm her way out of any cage or crate.  Newt thought that this new lock, one that required a wand to open, would keep her secure on his travels back to New York City, but apparently Payton had other plans.

He grabbed his coat and wand, exiting his hotel room and setting out in search of his wayward niffler.  Of course, the sidewalks were packed, people going to and from theatres and speakeasies, darting in and out of shops, or just taking in the sights of the city.  Newt kept his hand on his wand, but kept it tucked into the sleeve of his coat.  He couldn’t risk exposing himself or breaking the International Statute of Secrecy, and MACUSA was far stricter with their laws than the Ministry of Magic.

It was dark, the streetlights doing little to illuminate the streets with the masses of people in the city.  Newt paused, leaning against a building.  If I were a niffler, where would I go? he thought, tapping his chin as he thought.  Of course, anywhere with jewels or anything shiny, but Newt couldn’t risk breaking into another jewelry store.  So, he started walking, casting a spell of his own invention that would (hopefully) help track Payton down.

Three blocks later, Newt’s wand subtly buzzed in his sleeve, and he ducked into an alley.  The buzzing intensified, and he looked to his side, finding Payton cuddled in the lap of a woman; the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.  Three thoughts formed in his mind at once: Thank Merlin I found her, this woman is so beautiful, and oh hell, she might be a muggle.  You looked up at Newt, smiling softly.

“Hello,” you greeted, stroking the niffler’s soft fur.  “H-hello,” Newt responded.  “I see you’ve found my….honey badger.”  Payton was most certainly not a honey badger, but it was the animal that most closely resembled a niffler, and if you were a muggle, Newt wasn’t about to tell you the name of a magical creature.  But you laughed, getting to your feet, the niffler snuggled against your chest.

“A honey badger?  I think we both know this is a niffler.”  Newt let out a breath, smiling now as well.  “Yes, she is.  I wasn’t sure if… are you a witch?”  A sad look crossed your face, and you frowned.  “No.  My mother is, so is my sister, and my father’s a wizard.  But I’m a squib.”  Newt took a step closer to you, his heart racing.  “I know a lot about magic, I just can’t do it myself.  I studied all my sister’s books and was actually pretty good at them.  Well, as good as I could be without any actual magic.”

“That’s nothing to be ashamed of, you know,” Newt said, stepping even closer.  “There’s nothing wrong with being a squib, just as there’s nothing wrong with being a muggle.  What matters is what you can do with your talents.”  “Thank you,” you replied, looking at the animal in your arms.  “I’m Y/N, by the way.”  “Newt Scamander.  And this little escape artist is Payton.”  “She’s adorable.”  “So are you.”  

The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them, and he blushed scarlet.  “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to-”  “Thank you, Newt,” you cut him off, smiling wider.  “Do you maybe want to get a coffee tomorrow?  Tell me more about this little escape artist?”  Newt couldn’t believe his ears, you were asking him on a date.  “I’d love that,” he said, stumbling slightly over his words, and you beamed.  You eased Payton into his arms and found a scrap of paper, jotting down your address.  “I’ll be ready at noon,” you said, handing him the paper.  “I-I’ll be there.”

[lillywillow]

Birthday Wishes

Summary: Bucky wants to plan the best party ever for his young daughter

 Word Count: 2430

 Square Filled: Free Space

 Pairings: Singledad!Bucky x Female Reader/ Steve x Peggy

 Warnings: None really

 Written for @star-spangled-bingo

Ever since the mother to Bucky’s daughter passed away when she was a baby, he had been totally devoted to her and every year on her birthday, he went all out trying to make it the best one ever.

 About a month ago, Tony’s daughter Morgan had a mermaid themed party; complete with a woman dressed as a mermaid. Bucky’s daughter Rebecca had totally raved about it and with her own birthday coming up, he made a note to take one of the business cards with him.

...

 The moment Bucky walked into the building, he was in awe. The front of the store was full of costumes, dolls, plushies, pirate treasure chests, fairy wings and wands... every kind of fantasy item a child could possibly want and a lot of it looked handmade. Out the back, he could hear squealing and laughter. A party in progress, perhaps?

 “Good afternoon, welcome to Childhood Dreams. How may I help you?” the receptionist asked.

 “Hi. I’m looking to book a party? It’s for my daughter...”

 “I see. Well, before booking a party, you’ll need to make an appointment with Y/N. She likes to customise her parties to the client. She’s currently doing a performance but if you’re happy to wait, she’ll be done soon...”

 “I can wait...”

 “Great. Follow me please...”

 Bucky followed the receptionist into the back. There was a pirate party taking place with all the children dressed up as pirates. There were props and decorations keeping in tone with the theme and an incredible cake. On the stage up the front was the same woman who had played the part of the mermaid at Morgan’s party, this time she was a pirate, enacting a mighty swordfight with another actor. She really put her all into the performance.

 Bucky watched her for a moment before the receptionist pulled him along and guided him to an office along the side. The inside of the office was just as cheerful and childlike as the rest of the place. The desk was lined with small trinkets. Along the walls were various photographs of the woman in different costumes. A princess, a fairy, a friendly witch... there was a costume for every occasion. Bucky was in the middle of admiring them when the door opened and the subject from the photos stepped in.

 “You must be the gentleman wanting a party,” she smiled, taking off her hat and eye patch before sitting at her desk and encouraging him to take a seat. “I’m Y/N.”

 “Yes, that’s right. My name is Bucky and I’m looking to do a birthday party for my daughter Rebecca,” he said, getting his phone out to show her a picture.

 Y/N smiled at the photo of the little girl who was dressed as a princess.

 “Tell me about Rebecca. I take it she’s a princess fan?”

 Bucky’s face lit up as he spoke about his little girl. Everything that she loved about princesses and fairytales, down to her favourite colours, animals and mythical creatures.

 “I’m probably rambling now...”

 “No, no, I think it’s sweet to see a father so dedicated to his daughter. Let me show you a few of our packages,” she smiled.

 Y/N logged into her tablet to show him a few of the princess themed parties they offered. Bucky looked through the options before deciding on a fantasy type one with princesses, wizards and all things in that vein.

 “Will you be having the party here or elsewhere?”

 “I think home would be best... unless... here would be better? I don’t know...”

 “Some children feel more comfortable on home base and some like going out. It’s really up to you. My job is to give your child the best possible experience...”

 Bucky nodded slowly and thought.

 “She might like a party in her own backyard...”

 “That’s totally fine. I’ll need to visit ahead of time just so I can work on a setup. Now, will you be providing your own cake? If not, I can recommend an excellent bakery.”

 “A family friend agreed to make the cake,” Bucky replied.

 Y/N nodded and jotted down a few notes.

 “What about food?”

 “Yes, we’ll be making our own food too.”

 Y/N nodded again and wrote down a few more notes. After agreeing on a price, a date and time to meet, his address and the date of the party, Bucky started heading out the door.

 “One more thing...”

 Bucky turned to look at her.

 “I like to ask our clients how they found out about our business...”

 “A while ago, you threw a mermaid party for a friend of mine’s daughter. Rebecca couldn’t stop talking about it for days after that...”

 Y/N smiled fondly.

 “I see... well, I guess I’ll see you when I come to do my inspection. Goodbye, Bucky.”

 “Bye.”

 As Bucky left the office, he could feel his heart fluttering like it hadn’t done in a long time. Ever since his wife’s passing, Bucky hadn’t even looked at another woman. Well, he had looked but he had always been so busy taking care of Rebecca, he didn’t really have time to be pursuing women. Sure on occasion, he would go on a blind date now and then and Steve would babysit but that would be the extent of it. Bucky thought for sure his dating life was over but talking to Y/N just now... it gave him a lot of hope.

...

 Time went by and eventually the day arrived when you went to meet Bucky at his place. Bucky greeted you at the door with a smile and ushered you inside. Smiling, you looked around the place. Pictures of Bucky’s life lined the walls and shelves. Photos of him with friends but most of them were of his little girl. One thing you noticed was the lack of pictures of the girl’s mother. There were a few of her before having the child but not many after.

 “So, um... what do you need to see?”

 “You mentioned a backyard?” you said, referring back to the interview you had a few days ago.

 Bucky nodded and showed you the way. First, you scoped out the best place to conduct your performance then took out your measuring tape to size up the props you might need. As you worked, Bucky could see the gears turning in your head.

 “Do you go out to different locations a lot?” Bucky asked, trying to strike up a conversation.

 “Not a lot but it’s always fun when we do.”

 “How long have you been in business?”

 “It’s taken me about ten years to get it off the ground. It’s only been gaining popularity in the last year or so...”

 “Wait, so you own Childhood Dreams?”

 “Sure do. You see, I always believed childhood should be about fun and games before going onto the drudgery of adulthood. And I help out local business in the process. Most of the items available for purchase were made by local artists. I’m always willing to lend a hand when they need it. That’s why I ask about food. There’s a small bakery a few blocks from the building we’re located who does the most beautiful cakes...”

 You suddenly were interrupted by something brushing up against your leg. Looking down, you saw the most adorable white cat.

 “Why, hello there. Aren’t you a cutie?” you cooed, bending down to pat the snowy feline.

 “This is Alpine. Rebecca is just crazy about her. She’s been a really big help ever since...” Bucky paused, feeling a lump in his throat and tears well up in his eyes.

 Alpine trotted over to him and purred as he picked her up.

 “Sorry. It’s just... ever since my wife passed when Rebecca was a baby; I’ve wanted to give her the best life possible. I try to give equal amounts of time between her so she can look up to me and work so she has the best things in life...”

 You went over and gave him a hug.

 “You’re a good man, Bucky. I’ve been in this business long enough to tell the devoted parents from the off-standers. Just by spending a few minutes with you, I already know that you love your daughter and think the world of her. Just make sure you spend a few moments taking care of yourself, okay? It doesn’t have to be much, just enough so you feel good too.”

 Bucky gave you a soft smile, knowing that you were right. Everyone had told him as such but sometimes, it’s harder to take advice from the people closest to you.

 “Can I get you anything to drink?” he offered.

 “Actually, I should get going. I’ve got a children’s charity event I need to get ready for. It’s been really nice seeing you again, Bucky. I guess the next time I see you will be for your daughter’s party.”

 “See you then,” Bucky smiled.

 He couldn’t wait for the party.

...

 Finally, the day of Rebecca’s birthday arrived. Bucky had spent the night before busily transforming his humble home into a castle fit for a princess. He wanted everything to be perfect for his little girl’s special day, buying the most glittery, ruffled princess dress for her to wear, complete with a sparkly tiara. Bucky himself hired a prince costume and even managed to obtain a kitty sized dragon costume for Alpine.

 Bucky spent the morning cooking, starting with a plate of pancakes for breakfast before moving onto the finishing touches on the food for the party. He had most of it prepared already but some of it needed heating.

 The first to arrive was Wanda with her twin boys who were both in costume. The boys instantly ran over to play with Rebecca while Wanda was left holding the cake she had made along with her purse and the present she had bought. Bucky rushed over to help her with the items and after exchanging greetings and pleasantries, she showed his the cake.

 It was everything Bucky could have ever hoped for and more. The cake was purple with ice cream cones decorated like castle turrets, topped with little princess and unicorn figurines and the words ‘Happy Birthday, Rebecca’ written in icing along with the age she was turning. Little pink flowers were piped along the sides.

 “Thank you so much, Wanda. Becca’s just going to love it.”

 “You’re welcome,” she smiled, giving him a hug.

 Soon after Wanda’s arrival was Steve and Peggy with their child followed by Tony, Pepper and Morgan, Sam with his kid and it wasn’t long before all the party guests had arrived. The adults all mingled while the children played together happily. Right on time, Y/N arrived with her scene partner in full costume. She was wearing a knight costume while her partner (whom she introduced as Phil) was dressed as an ‘evil’ wizard. Bucky settled the kids in front of the makeshift stage and let the performance begin.

 Y/N started by introducing herself as a knight dedicated to Princess Rebecca.

 “That’s me!” Rebecca squealed in delight, jumping to her feet and clapping.

 Y/N knelt down to be level with her, crossing her right arm over her chest in a salute.

 “I vow to protect you from the evils of the kingdom.”

 Suddenly, Phil jumped out of his hiding place.

 “Mwa-ha-ha! I am an evil wizard and I am here to change all the cakes into broccoli!”

 Bucky thought he was laying it on a little thick but there was a wave of horrified gasps from the kids.

 “Not so fast, evil wizard! We will defeat you! Kids, if I’m going to beat him, I’m going to need your help...”

 Y/N and Phil made an amazing pair. While Y/N encouraged the children and even a few of the parents to join in, Phil played off their reactions until he was ‘defeated’.

 “You win! I will change my evil ways and use my powers for good!” he dramatically cried.

 The children all cheered and clapped. The two actors took a bow and started to pack up as Bucky announced it was time for cake. The kids all raced over to where the cake was being brought out.

 “Would you two like to stay for cake?” Bucky offered.

 Phil looked at Y/N for permission, a hopeful glint in his eye.

 “Sure. We have some time before our next appointment,” she smiled. Phil gave a big, childlike grin.

 Once everyone had sung Happy Birthday to Rebecca and she had blown out the candles, the cake was served out. Steve approached Bucky.

 “Hey, man. How are you doing?”

 “A bit tired but seeing the smile on that little girl’s face makes it all worth it,” he softly sighed.

 Steve followed Bucky’s gaze to where Rebecca was talking animatedly to Y/N. He could tell the smile on her face was genuine and not just for show. This was a person who loved their job and loved children.

 “Is that the same Y/N you’ve been going on about all week?”

 “I haven’t been talking about her that much...”

 Steve gave him an incredulous look.

 “You know, it’s okay to like her. Why don’t you ask her out?”

 “What about Rebecca?”

 “Peggy and I can look after her while you go out on date. You deserve to be happy too...”

 Bucky thought about it for a while and headed over to Y/N and Rebecca.

 “Daddy, daddy! Y/N was the mermaid at Morgan’s party! She’s magical...” Rebecca was absolutely smitten with the woman.

 “I see... Can I talk Y/N alone for a minute? Then you can open presents,” he smiled.

 Rebecca giggled and hugged his leg before running off to play with her friends.

 “She’s a darling,” Y/N warmly smiled.

 “She is... Listen, Y/N... I was wondering... if you’re not busy tomorrow night... if maybe you’d like to have dinner with me...”

 “Like a date?”

 Bucky’s face flushed.

 “I mean, if you want it to be...”

 Y/N kissed his cheek.

 “I’d like that. How about 7:00 at the restaurant around the from the Childhood Dreams building. They do an amazing meal...”

 “Sounds perfect,” he smiled.

 This was one the best days of Bucky’s life. Not only did he pull off the perfect party for his daughter but he took a step back into the dating world with an incredible woman who somehow stole his heart.

[delimeful]

Builder

new minecraft AU update! this one jumps between the past & the present! 

warnings: zombies, injury mention

-

Patton found the old house on a cloudy day.

He was still hit with the urge to roam, every once in a while, and while Logan’s home rested on the edge of a swamp, there were green, rolling hills to the southwest that were lovely to wander in.

Logan normally escorted him, as an extra pair of eyes with a helpful cat familiar to prevent any creepers from creeping up on him, but today he had been immersed in his potions. He’d found a new enchanted spellbook while out on a voyage, and was practically bursting with ideas upon his return.

Patton had smiled and left him to it, waving off any concerns with a promise to be extra careful and come back home if he started feeling sunsick.

He hadn’t meant to amble so far off course, but he’d seen a beehive, and where there were bees, there were flowers!

Spurred on by the idea of a flower crown for his friend, he’d found himself farther westward than he’d ever gone before. The hills turned to a taiga landscape, and between those towering birches was the house.

It looked uninhabitable, the wood rotted and the roof collapsed, but something about it called Patton closer, and so he pushed aside the remains of the front door and walked inside.

The stairs were ruined, barring any entry to the upper level of the house. Any furniture that had once stood tall was now utterly destroyed by years of exposure to the elements. He stepped carefully, ducking past cobwebs and listening to each creaky step.

Finally, he reached the back corner, and stopped, turning his head this way and that until the dull glint of metal caught his eye, half-hidden behind a dusty bedframe.

He crouched next to the iron hatch, and with only the barest moment of hesitation, pulled it open.

Daylight spilled into the basement below, and he caught a glimpse of clouded eyes set in a rotting face before the zombie backed up out of the light with a groan. Patton stumbled back with a yelp, falling on his back, and then crawled forwards and slammed the latch shut.

There was no protest from the creature below, and he left the house at a sprint.

-

Logan had followed him back out to the house based on nothing but Patton’s panicked ramblings alone, and his brow had grown more and more furrowed as they reached the house, ventured inside, and re-opened that hatch.

“I passed this house many times,” he spoke slowly, voice pained, “and all this time, someone had been down here?”

Patton leaned in, hands shaking as his eyes adjusted to the dark. “There’s two of them,” he corrected softly, and then stood back up in time to watch Logan hurry out of the dilapidated building.

It was guilt that his anger stemmed from, and Patton gave him some time before following, ignoring the bubbling remains of a shattered potion on the ground to pull his friend into a long hug.

“Could you help them?” he asked, once Logan’s witch mark had ceased its glowing, and his fists were no longer white-knuckled. “The way you helped me?”

Logan had been looking at him with that helplessly surprised stare, the one that always appeared when Patton witnessed his supernatural ‘fits’ firsthand and stayed anyway.

At the question, his expression went firm. “We’re going to try.”

-

The next few weeks were a rush of planning, harvesting, and brewing.

Patton hadn’t been sure he would be much of a help at all, but Logan had an unending list of tasks that he was working through, and a surprising amount were simple enough that Patton could manage them himself, like scavenging for certain ingredients or preparing others in a certain manner.

Eventually, he even began his own little garden, where he planted the ingredients more commonly needed for most of Logan’s potions.

Other tasks weren’t so easy.

Gold couldn’t be grown, for example, and their luck in mines varied from day to day. Some of the ingredients were only found in the Nether, and while Logan had traversed it enough to be familiar, it was still a dangerous place.

Logan had once returned home with a crossbow bolt lodged in his shoulder, having survived the trek back by leaving the bolt in and drinking a potion of healing anyways. They'd had to reopen the wound to get it out, and Patton had insisted on waiting by the portal for every venture after, just in case something like that happened again.

Still, bit by bit they worked, until Logan had a refined version of the cure he’d created for Patton.

Applying the cure didn’t actually take that long, though Logan expressed his frustration with how difficult it was to maneuver young zombies. Apparently older zombies-- the ones that were more bone than flesh, the ones that didn’t flinch away from pain, the ones that no potion could cure-- were much easier to lead. More predictable after the last traces of humanity faded from their minds.

Regardless, Patton’s very talented friend managed to separate and enclose the two of them in cells on his own, refusing Patton's assistance to avoid adding an extra person to the mix and complicating everything. He did allow Patton to help him with the actual curing, and how strange it was, to be on the other end of the process this time.

The potion & golden apple combination went over without a hitch, and Patton didn't think he'd ever slept as deeply as he did the night after those hard weeks of work. With the former zombies now laying tucked into their own beds, healing more by the day, Logan and Patton were left to wait in anxious anticipation.

Luckily, they had plenty to do to occupy their time! The new residents would need a place to stay, after all, and though Logan’s home was cozy, it wasn’t large enough to fit additions. Patton had originally wanted to build a neighboring house right next door, but Logan had suggested they build it closer to the decrepit house, just in case these strangers wanted some space to themselves after their ordeal.

Patton had a sneaking suspicion that the suggestion was also in case the others reacted badly to Logan's witch status, but he didn’t call his housemate out on it. He was nervous about meeting these new people too, after all. He hadn’t really had the opportunity to spend much time with anyone but Logan since regaining consciousness, and sometimes it all seemed like too much.

Now though, building this place with the breeze at his back and Logan at his side, he felt as though he could take on all the muchness in the world.

He set another wooden beam in place, stepping back to smile at how close they were to finishing the house. It wasn’t anything fancy, but it had taken a lot of hard work, and Patton had a good feeling about it.

New beginnings didn’t come around every day, after all.

-

Patton smiled nostalgically at the house in the distance, the one at the heart of the village that he had built together with Logan all that time ago.

It was amazing how much the village had grown, one new home at a time, occupied mostly by former zombies at first, and then the occasional traveler settling down, and eventually a few kids running about. It had become a thriving community, and Patton never stopped feeling proud of all the work that everyone had put in to keep it safe and welcoming.

There was a curious little ‘vrrp’ from behind him, and Patton turned away from the half-finished wall to see Anxiety shuffling in place, avoiding the gaps in the floor that hadn’t yet been patched.

“Just lost in thought!” he reassured the enderman, reaching out slowly and patting his friend’s arm, giving him plenty of time to scoot away if he wasn’t feeling up to touch today. Anxiety held still, fingers curling around Patton’s hand in turn.

After a moment of this, he teleported away sheepishly, and Patton muffled a chuckle as he turned back to finish installing a window. Logan would be here soon, but until then, it was nice to have company as he once again worked on adding a home to their little patchwork village.

Patton would be the one moving in, of course, and though there was a new addition to their population, Anxiety was more of a secret housemate than a homeowner. (They wouldn’t want anyone gawking at him, after all!) Even with those differences, the process was still familiar enough to make him grin.

Anxiety made a small, otherworldly 'notice me' chirp, and Patton turned to find there was a solid block of dirt in his wall, the grass on top of it still green. It only took him a moment to connect the dirt’s presence to the empty-handed enderman shifting antsily next to it.

“Oh! What a nice touch!” he encouraged, and laughed as Anxiety teleported back and forth in apparent pride. “It’s fun to work together with friends on stuff like this, isn’t it?”

He couldn’t really understand the noises that the enderman made in response, but he got the sense it was a resounding agreement.

[thefirstknife]

We obviously don't have any real answers, but for idle speculation: what do you think Crow is on Venus for? I've seen people suggest Vex or Ahamkara reality-warping, but Crow doesn't seem depressed or angry enough for that.

Honestly my biggest question right now. I'll be a little unhinged in this post so bear with me.

Option 1, he wants to be isolated and it's been established that there are no authorised Vanguard operations on Venus so it's the most likely barren but available celestial body in the system. Going beyond the Reef is dangerous and the only thing left in the inner system that isn't yoinked by Darkness or occupied is Venus.

I think this is the most benign and basic explanation that makes the most sense for now until we know more. The rest under the cut:

Option 2, speaking of that same lore I linked, two other people went to Venus for an unknown reason: an unnamed Hunter (with an Eliksni friend) and Shayura. The Hunter was guided by the Eliksni to a part of Venus that didn't belong to the Ishtar Academy:

Hurrying up a shallow set of rubble-strewn steps, a short Eliksni bearing the crest of the House of Light pauses, gazing back at the chrome-armored Guardian moving up the steps behind him. The Eliksni looks the Guardian up and down, then motions to the stark silhouette of a gray concrete-block building rising up from the Venusian overgrowth.

"This ain't the academy proper," the Guardian says on ascent, watching the hazy sky for signs of danger. Moisture clings in glistening beads to his reflective mask; his dark hood shields him from the rest of the elements. "The hell was this place?"

The Eliksni tilts his head to the side, four eyes blinking independently from one another. "Not Human, don't know. But machine inside."

I'd assume that the Eliksni would know if it was a Vex structure, but he only specifies that it isn't human. He mentions "machine inside" which can refer to the Vex taking over, but the structure doesn't seem to be of Vex origin or the Eliksni and the Hunter would be able to recognise that. It's not exactly hard to notice their work.

Shayura came to Venus to find someone. We don't know who. It might be the Hunter in the lore (whom she killed), but it's never specified. The only thing specified is what her Ghost says:

"There are no sanctioned Vanguard operations on Venus at present," the Ghost clarifies, pivoting its cold blue eye up to its Guardian. "Why do you think he's down there?"

There's an implication that whoever she's looking for is known to work or has worked with the Vanguard.

I wonder if Shayura's Wrath lore is chronologically in order or not. Because if not, Crow would fit the description of who she's looking for. Worked with the Vanguard, went to Venus, is easily on Shayura's list of people to kill given his past.

But why would Crow be there in the first place? Maybe it has something to do with the structure described in Shayura's Wrath lore. Crow didn't fully leave the Vanguard, he just got reassigned to work with Lord Saladin in negotiating with Caiatl. Caiatl is hard at work fighting Xivu Arath's forces and the Hive in general. She even implied being willing to nuke the hell out of the Reef to kill Savathun, civilian casualties be damned. Thanks to Zavala, this plan was nipped in the bud.

So my question then would be what is Crow doing on Venus as a part of that assignment? What is on Venus, damn it? Oh, dunno, maybe... Hm.

:) ?

Remember, Venus became a jungle world after the Traveler terraformed it. Now, the problem with the Venus look is that the screenshots are only from D1 and those are old. But the jungle, overgrown look with a lot of foliage is there:

A better look might be from concept art:

The question here is: is Savathun's throne world located somewhere in the physical world or is the jungle around it just a part of the throne world itself and the actual location is elsewhere? I lean to the former and if she wanted to hide her throne world entrance somewhere, where better than on an abandoned world of Venus.

Furthermore, Bungie already reworked Venus for Destiny 2, due to Vault of Glass. The textures are there, the loading screen is there, orbit look and music, everything is already transferred to D2. Would be a shame to only have it exist as entry to Vault of Glass. Now, I don't think this necessarily means that the entirety of Venus will be back, but some other smaller part of it, perhaps. There's been a lot of Venus mentions lately, starting from it literally being back as a part of the raid.

For more unhinged hints: Venus is highly sulfuric, something which is mentioned in most lore about Venus, including this week's mention of Crow being there. Witch Queen Warlock armour features many references to sulfur:

"S" is the symbol for sulfur, 16 is its number in the periodic table and 32.066 is its atomic weight.

Venus is also symbolical for Savathun. Venus is the only planet named after a Goddess and all of its features are named after Goddesses, of which three appear in Destiny: Ishtar Sink, Maat Mons and Pomona Mons. Quite ironically, Maat is an Egyptian Goddess of truth and justice, while Pomona is a Roman Goddess of gardens. Ishtar (Inanna) is more or less the same as Venus mythologically, and both have very close ties to the planet itself as was observed by the ancient people, which is why the planet was named after them.

Best for last: ancient Greeks considered Venus to be two separate celestial objects because of how Venus sometimes appears early in the morning (morning star) and sometimes early in the evening (evening star). They eventually realised that it's the same object, but they continued using two words to describe it: Phosphoros and Hesperos. Its generally mostly used name was Phosphoros which means... Light-bearer. It's also where the name for the element phosphorus came from. Both phosphorus and sulfur are very much tied to alchemy, which is a huge theme for the Witch Queen. Phosphorus also precedes sulfur on the periodic table (with number 15) and was, alongside sulfur, instrumental in the alchemical search for the Philosopher's stone.

^ This symbol from the same Warlock armour refers to the Philosopher's stone: this is a symbol of philosopher's sulfur. Another related symbol also appears on the Warlock armour that relates to sulfur:

So why is Crow on Venus? Maybe he just wants a place where he can be alone in the world to process what happened. That's fair.

And maybe it's a part of the assignment to find Savathun's throne world because at this point, we all know that to kill a Hive God, they must be killed in their throne world. If the plan is to kill Savathun, and Caiatl is very much into that plan, she is probably looking for the throne world. Crow may be the one to find it. And perhaps someone else has already found it before, if we consider Shayura's Wrath lore.

Okay, I'm done being insane for today.

[css1992]

Guilty Pleasure

[Porn AU]

Summary: Peter and Beck used to be a power couple in the porn industry, but after Beck dumps him, Peter is forced to start over. With no money, no family and nowhere to go, he doesn’t have much choice other than to keep doing porn, so he joins Just4Fans to get back on his feet and then one day he gets a very generous tip from someone under the username of YKWIM.

All the warnings listed on Part I apply. 

Read on AO3

Part I / Part II / Part III / Part IV / Part V /  Part VI /  Part VII /  Part VIII  / Part IX / Part X /  Part XI / Epilogue

-x-

Almost three months into his new life, Peter was finally able to establish a routine that worked for him. He woke up around nine in the morning, tried to get some sort of exercise done, usually yoga or a jog around the block, then he had breakfast by himself, because both Ned and MJ had class or work before he was even up. After that, he made sure to post something on Just4fans, so people could see it throughout the day, and answered private messages and comments from the night before. Lastly, he headed to his newly created Twitter account to promote the new content and to interact with people there as well – it was a great way to get new subscribers.

That usually took up most of his morning, then he went downstairs to Ned and MJ’s apartment for lunch. He usually ate with at least one of them, except for Mondays and Wednesdays, when neither was home, but even then he ate at their place since he didn’t own any kitchen appliances yet – it was on the priority list, but not that high up, he liked having an excuse to visit his friends every day.

Later, he headed back upstairs and, depending on the day, he would take new pictures and videos or edit the ones he took the day before. Finally, at night, he posted more content on his Just4fans and chatted with his subscribers until it was time for bed.

In the last week of April, on one of his morning jogs, he noticed that just a few blocks away from his building there was a charity called the Bright Future Foundation. He thought the name sounded familiar, but try as he may, he couldn’t remember where he had heard of them. It was only after running past it a few times that it clicked – Mr. Harrington, his science teacher, told Peter to look it up.

The Bright Future Foundation helped kids who aged out of foster care get their lives together. They offered support in the form of scholarships and grants, academic and personal mentoring, and help with internships and employment readiness skills. That was what their website said, as Peter vaguely remembered from his high school years, when he still planned on going to college.

He went inside one day, not really sure why, and when the front desk lady asked how she could help him he just stood there for a few minutes, silent and nervous. She asked if he wanted to learn about their programs, but he shook his head, sticking his hands in his pockets. The woman waited patiently, a motherly smile on her face, until Peter asked if they needed any help.

And that was how volunteering at BFF became a part of his new routine – every Thursday from nine to five, starting in the first week of May. Since it was just a few blocks away from his place, he could walk there instead of taking the subway.

He liked his new routine, it was tiring but it didn’t leave a lot of time for overthinking or ruminating on the past. He never felt lonely because Ned and MJ were always around and he actually made a few friends among his subscribers, which was nice.

For the first time in a while, Peter was feeling happy. And it wasn’t an elaborate, fragile sort of happiness, where things needed to be in perfect place for the feeling to be felt, no. It was the simplest kind of happiness: he had friends, a job, a place to crash and everything was fine. Nothing was perfect, but it was fine.

A few days after he sent Tony the lingerie pictures, he decided to send him the video. He was a little insecure about it, it was 13 minutes long after editing and Peter had really lost it for a minute there, one could clearly tell. He was gone for most of the video, a moaning mess, tears gathering at the corners of his eyes, begging for something – someone – that wasn’t even there. It either looked ridiculous or fucking hot depending on the person watching, and even though he was pretty sure Tony would not think it was ridiculous, he still worried just a little, but he sent it anyway. It was still early in the day when he did, some time around noon, and he didn’t expect him to answer any time soon, so went on with his day.

Tony messaged him around 2AM, as usual, but there was no text, just three videos in the chat. In the first one, it looked like he was wearing a suit, he could see the dress pants pulled down and the white shirt pulled up as Tony jacked off for thirty seconds before he came all over his hand. It looked like he was in a bathroom stall, sitting on a toilet, and Peter bit his lower lip, wondering if he was at work when the video was taken.

The second video was similar to the first, but it looked like he was in a garage or something like that – probably the workshop he always talked about –, Peter could see a black shirt bunched up around his waist and sweatpants around his thighs.

Last but not least there was a video of him completely naked, lying in bed, and the video was shot from Tony’s point of view, like he was holding his cell phone close to his face, looking down, instead of propping it up in front of him like he usually did.

They were all incredible and delicious and got Peter rock hard in a second. The boy got comfortable on the bed, lay on his back, took off his pajama bottoms and sighed when his cock sprung free, shivering a little when the chilly night air touched his heated skin. He planted his feet on the mattress and spread his legs, but didn’t do more than that yet.

“That good?” He messaged Tony, cheekily, and the older man started typing right away.

“This is the best thing that’s ever happened to me in my whole entire life and I’m 48, so yeah. That good.”

Hm, forty-eight. So Peter wasn’t wrong in his assumption. He bit his lower lip, a rush of excitement running through his veins. Tony was so much older, almost thirty years his senior. Peter supposed he must be really experienced. He wondered if he usually hooked up with younger men or if in real life he only dated women – it wouldn’t be a shock – but most of all, he wondered what he looked like. Maybe he dyed his hair, but if he didn’t, it was probably mostly gray and fuck Peter if he didn’t have a thing for that.

“I couldn’t stop thinking about it. You broke me. I was in the middle of a meeting when you sent that video, I had to excuse myself to go to the bathroom to watch it. What have you done to me, witch?” Peter wanted to laugh, but it got stuck in the back of his throat with a moan when he slid a hand to his lower abdomen and his cock stood to attention.

“I don’t know about that, but your videos sure got me horny as fuck.” He rolled his hips a little, humping the air, and finally gave in to himself, holding his cock in one hand and the cellphone in the other.

“Is that so?” He could almost hear his voice through the phone – soft, but powerful. He always imagined Tony would sound like that if they ever talked face to face.

“Yes, daddy” And that would always be his default answer to anything he might ask with that voice. He closed his eyes for a second, quickening the pace of his strokes just a little, when his phone beeped again.

“Are you touching yourself right now?”

“Yes, daddy” Peter shivered, imagining Tony’s reaction to that revelation.

“Can I hear you, baby boy?”

He didn’t even hesitate, he started recording a voice message and moaned into the phone, thrusting his hips against his fist as he quietly begged for Tony’s cock, his fingers, his mouth, anything, he just wanted the man to be there taking care of him, making him cum, that was all he wanted, and he wanted it so badly.

He came in just a few seconds and hit send on the voice message before he could overthink it. As he lay there, breathless, staring at the ceiling and trying to gather his strength, he fantasized about Tony listening to it. He smiled to himself, like an idiot, then his cellphone beeped, bringing him back to reality.

“You’re gonna drive me mad, you know that? I’m actually going insane and it’s all your fault. Also, my dick is gonna fall off and that’s on you, too.” Peter had the presence of mind to laugh at the message, but it took him a few seconds to gather enough energy to write back to him.

“That’s a serious accusation, Tony, I’m gonna need all the evidence I can get, so every time you touch yourself thinking of me, make sure to send me proof, ok?”

“Oh, you don’t know what you just got yourself into.” Again, Peter could only laugh, because judging by the amount of videos Tony sent him that day, he really was in for a treat.

Days later, on Friday, Peter got up early to go for his usual jog around the block. He was a little tired from the day before, still adjusting to his new routine at BFF – it was his third week there and they were starting to realize that Peter was a quick learner and very eager to help, so they took advantage of that, which was fine with him, he was thrilled to be able to help somehow.

So after a quick, half-assed jog around the block, he went back home, showered and decided to take the rest of the pictures Tony asked for. The man was still going nuts over the video, he wouldn’t stop talking about it and every day there was a video of him finishing himself off in their chat and Peter could hear his own voice in the background, screaming Tony’s name.

It was both embarrassing as fuck and hot as hell, so the younger man also spent a lot of those last few days in the shower trying to cool down, but Tony was not making it easier.

As much fun as that was, he was curious to see how Tony would react to the new pictures. He realized that would be the first time the older man would see him with clothes on, which sounded ridiculous, but it was true. He didn’t have many pictures on Instagram, but most of them were selfies and there were just a few where it was possible to see maybe a hint of a shirt, but that was it.

So he took the outfit he and MJ picked out and winced, remembering how much it cost, but at least he picked out clothes he might wear some day – if he had a meeting with the queen of England, for example. He put on the light gray suit by Hugo Boss, with a pink shirt with big, white dots by Levi’s Vintage underneath, black dress shoes by Brunello Cucinelli and a Gucci watch he was able to find on sale for half the original price. The whole outfit was worth around five thousand dollars, and was definitely the most money he had ever spent on – well, anything.

He checked himself in the mirror and snorted a little, he sure looked like a spoiled brat, which was probably what Tony meant by “expensive and beautiful”, so that was fine. He styled his hair so it looked effortlessly tousled, but not too much, and set his camera to take the pictures by the living room window.

He took a few pictures on the windowsill, some other leaning against the glass with his hands in his pockets, a few others looking out the window. He posed on his armchair, too, which was the only piece of furniture he had in his living room at the moment and he wished he had a decent dining table so he could pose like he was on a date with the camera, but he supposed those would do.

Once he was satisfied with what he got, he took off the clothes, put them away and went downstairs to have lunch with Ned and MJ. For the first time since he moved in with them, they both had Friday afternoon off, so they spent it together, eating junk food, watching bad TV series and playing really old tabletop games Ned had brought with him when he moved from his parents’ house.  

In between a game of Monopoly and Scrabble, Peter pulled his phone out to check his messages, and was surprised to find one from Tony, sent just a few minutes earlier. He checked the time and noticed he must still be at work, so he opened it, assuming it couldn’t be anything too sexual.

“Hey, are you feeling better today? Just checking in.”

Peter frowned for a second, but a quick look at their earlier messages reminded him that he was feeling a little under the weather the day before and he’d told Tony that before he went to bed.

“Hi, Tony! I’m all better now, thanks for asking. I guess it was just allergies or something.”

He didn’t expect Tony to answer right away, but as soon as his message was sent, he started typing.  

“That’s good to hear, but you need to be a little more careful with your health, kitten. Just yesterday you said you had an apple for lunch. At 4PM.”

“You’re one to talk.” Peter snorted. They always berated each other for poor eating habits. Peter was a 20 year-old bachelor living by himself and sharing meals with his equally young and dumb friends, so pizza was on the menu more often than not; Tony was a forty-eight year-old businessman with too little time to care. “Did you even eat today?”

“Don’t try to turn this around, this isn’t about me.” Peter rolled his eyes and smiled to himself. “Did you do anything fun today?”

“I took some pictures for you, it was quite fun.” He knew the mention of new pictures would get him interested in a minute.

“Don’t play with my heart, kid. When can I see them?”

“I don’t know...” He teased just a little, because he knew Tony wasn’t above begging and it was fun to watch.

“Don’t be mean to daddy, come on. He’s always so good to you.” Peter smiled, because, yeah. He was.

“I’ll send them tonight, I promise.” He decided, since they would have more time to talk then, if he sent the pictures earlier, Tony would still be at work and Peter would still be at his friends’.

“Good boy.”

“You know I am.”

“What are you smiling about? Who are you talking to?” Ned looked suspiciously at him, so he quickly put the phone down and shook his head with a nervous smile.

“Just a subscriber with a bad one-liner.”

MJ looked at him like she knew a secret, but Ned just shrugged and finished setting up the game.  They ended up calling it a draw and ordering pizza afterwards, but Peter went back home early because both Ned and MJ had work the next morning.

Once he got upstairs, he went to edit Tony’s pictures and since it was still a little early to send them, he decided to check his twitter DMs. He didn’t read them very often, he already had his plate full with JustForFans, but every once in a while he checked them and answered as many as he could. Most of the messages were dick pics anyway, he just ignored those. Some others were people being nosy and asking way too personal questions, or worse, asking about Beck. He learned how to talk his way around those, but one message in particular stood out and really got to him.  

“I’m so glad you’re doing okay, honey! The way Beck is with his new boy now makes me wonder if he ever even loved you. He sure moved on quickly. You’re better off without him anyway, I always liked you better.”

That sort of comment wasn’t exactly unusual, but that second part caught him a little off guard. Makes me wonder if he ever even loved you. It just – why would she say that?  The way Beck is with his new boy. What way, exactly? What could he possibly be doing that made that person assume Beck never even loved him? People thought they were perfect together, they said it all the time, so much so that Peter himself was almost convinced of it for most of their relationship, so why in the hell would anyone think he loved this other guy more? To the point of assuming he didn’t even love Peter in the first place?

He was a masochist, he decided, as he opened Instagram. And not even the good kind of masochist, because there wasn’t any pleasure involved in what he was about to do, just pain. He unblocked Beck’s profiled and fucking looked. He didn’t know what he expected to find, but just looking at the first picture was enough to make him realize it was a terrible fucking idea. It was a black and white picture of him and the new guy cuddling in bed, kissing with soft smiles on their faces, captioned: “Nowhere else I’d rather be.”

Peter closed the app quickly, he didn’t need to see that. It meant nothing.

That picture meant nothing. That caption meant nothing. Because Beck was a fucking liar, a fucking actor, a fucking illusionist, a fucking – artist. He painted beautiful pictures, he weaved beautiful words, but none of that meant anything. Because it never meant anything when it was Peter in his arms, so why would–

Fuck, he should be over him, so fucking over him. But he really wasn’t, he would go back to that toxic environment if Beck snapped his fingers and that was scary to know. It was fucking terrifying to realize he was one text away from crawling back to him, even after all the humiliation, even after Beck just fucking up and left him with nothing – nothing –  he would still go right back to his arms. He still wanted to go right back to his arms.

It made him feel pathetic and weak because he knew that what they had was toxic and abusive. And he had known that for a while, way before they split up. Deep in his soul, he knew he was living a nightmare, day after day, over and over again, but he couldn’t fucking leave. He thought Beck was all he had. He promised him forever. He promised he would always be there for him. He was all Peter had in life, and he had lost so fucking much over the years, he couldn’t afford to lose anybody else.

But he did, didn’t he? He lost Beck. He was in someone else’s arms right that second, professing his undying, fake love.

Peter took a deep breath and held it a few seconds, then exhaled slowly.

He didn’t lose anything, he was set free. He was free and he had a record to break – it had been three days since he last cried about that asshole and he didn’t plan to ruin it.

He closed Instagram and went to his Just4Fans. He posted a few pictures from a phoshoot he did earlier that week that made him feel sexy and confident, which was the opposite of how he felt at that moment, but he was going to fake it until he made it.

In a few minutes, he got lots of comments and private messages with compliments, but somehow none of them was enough to fill the empty spot Beck left when he dumped him.

Well, none except for one.

“Were you planning on giving an old man a heart attack today? ‘Cause that’s how you give an old man a heart attack.” The silly message got a smile out of him, and that was a lot considering how broken he felt.

“Lol. It wasn’t in my plans, no, but now I’m worried. Is the old man okay?” He joked, and immediately got an answer in his inbox.

“He’s waiting for you to keep your promise. Says he refuses to die before he sees some pictures of you? Do you happen to know anything about that?” Peter chuckled.

“Oh, yeah, I think I know what he’s talking about. Hold on a sec.”

He selected his ten favorite pictures with the date outfit and sent them to Tony, feeling butterflies in his stomach for reasons he couldn’t explain. He lay in bed for several minutes, staring at his phone, waiting for an answer, but the older man didn’t say anything, even though Peter could see he was still online. He started to get a little anxious, worried that he had messed up somehow, so he messaged him again.

“Well? Have I finally rendered the old man speechless?”

Almost at the same time as he sent his message, Tony replied:

“I need to see you.”

Peter’s heart almost jumped out of his mouth when he read those words, eyes widening in shock. I need to see you. He read it a few more times to make sure it meant what he thought it meant. It couldn’t possibly – Tony wouldn’t want to meet him. That would be absurd. He was – well, Peter wasn’t sure, but he sounded important most of the time, he was definitely very rich, very hardworking and he seemed like a really nice guy. So really, why would he want to meet Peter. That made absolutely no sense, obviously he meant something different than that, he just didn’t quite know what–

“Please,” said the next message, just a few seconds later.

Peter bit his lower lip, feeling his face grow warmer. Just for the hell of it, he thought – what if Tony did mean he wanted to meet him? What then? Peter couldn’t say yes, that would be insane. He didn’t even know the man, all he knew were little things about his daily life, he didn’t know his last name, if he had a family, if he was married, if he was a psychopath – he didn’t even know what he looked like!

Still, he fantasized about saying yes. But that was just a fantasy. He couldn’t do it, that would be crazy.

Right?

“You won’t regret it, I’ll treat you right.”

Well, fuck. He had to go straight for his Achilles’s heel, huh.

Peter kept staring at the bright screen of his phone, breathing slowly to try to contain his wild heart that seemed adamant to burst out of his chest cavity in the next few minutes. He didn’t know what to say. No, his brain supplied, like it was obvious, because it was, right? He couldn’t say yes, yes was not a viable answer. He had to say no, it was only a matter of how he would say it without hurting the older man’s ego.

But.

Why exactly did he have to say no? He knew there were ate least 99 good answers to that question, but he couldn’t think of one, so–

“How do I know you’re not a serial killer?” Peter asked, even though he wasn’t really worried about that, it was the last thing on his mind, to be honest.

“You’ll know.” He said, plain and simple, and not helpful at all. And still, no flight response whatsoever from Peter’s brain. His stupid mind couldn’t seem to understand that that was clearly a terrible idea.“We’ll meet in a restaurant, the best in New York, and nothing else has to happen, I promise. We’ll have a nice dinner and that’s it. I just need to see you in person.”

That sounded reasonable, didn’t it? A public place, lots of eyes on them. If Tony turned out to be a creep, he could just leave. At the very worst, he’d be disappointed and lose a very generous subscriber; at the very best, he’d get a good meal out of it and who knew what else. It sounded reasonable. So it was probably reasonable.

Right?

“Can I wear this outfit?” He asked, because, well, that was all he had to wear to New York City’s best restaurant – whatever that was.

“You must, baby.” He answered quickly, and Peter smiled to himself. “So I’ll take that as a yes, then?”

He typed a quick yes, but didn’t send it right away. He gave his brain a few seconds to come up with reasons to say no, because he knew there were good reasons for that, but he really, honestly, just wanted to say–  

“Yes.”

“Perfect.” He replied right away, as if he had been staring at the phone, waiting for his answer. “I’ll set a time and place and let you know. You won’t regret it, Peter.”

Peter loved all the pet names Tony gave him, they were all sweet and funny, but when he called him by his actual name, it just hit different. It felt good. Like he wasn’t just a pretty picture in a porn app, an expensive hobby, but a person. It was hard for him to remember that, sometimes.

Some other times, it felt good to forget.